Personal Arsenal
by Natsuyuki Sera 1412
Summary: After getting held at gunpoint by an unknown woman; defeating a group of pirates that were posing a problem; receiving an old Log Post leading to a legendary treasure; and receiving a new crew member who has a Devil Fruit ability, the Straw Hats set out for another adventure on the seas to find this Legendary Treasure, going head on into whatever trouble they find. (OC Warning)
1. Chapter 1

_**WARNING: This story does contain an OC (Original Character) along with an OCxCanon Character (character will most likely be Zoro). If this is NOT to your liking, leave now and forever hold your peace, please.**_

**If you're all right with OCs, then, please, continue reading if you wish.**

**Rated T for Teen: Mostly because of bad language, violence, sexual innuendos (small suggestions).**

**Oh, and, uh, this is already known, but...I don't own One Piece, because if I did I wouldn't be here.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was a fine, sunny, day for the Straw Hat crew as they sailed the deep blue. It was quiet, a bit too quiet for them. Luffy was asleep on deck with Chopper and Zoro; Nami was off counting her treasure; Brook was sitting on deck with Robin, drinking tea as she read over a book about ancient ruins; Frankie was down below, making sure everything was still patched together after the rough storm they ran through the other day; Usopp was cleaning the cannon; and Sanji was in the kitchen, about to prepare lunch for everyone on board, until he ran into a problem.

"LUFFY!"

Luffy continued to snore soundly on deck, seeming to have not heard Sanji's shouting.

"Uh-oh…" Chopper mumbled, yawning. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Luffy!" Sanji shouted, barging onto deck. He quickly grabbed Luffy by the collar and began shaking him. "Wake up and listen to me!"

Luffy yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, hey, Sanji, lunch ready?"

"Of course it's not ready!" Sanji shouted. "You ate the last of our food supply! I told you we were running low and you went and ate the last of our rations!"

"No worries," Luffy said, smiling. "We can last until we get there."

"That's a three day journey," Nami said, walking onto deck with her arms crossed.

Luffy's mouth, and practically anyone who was listening, mouth dropped open, shocked. Luffy soon franticly looked around and pointed out to the open water. "What about that place?"

Everyone looked up and followed their captain's pointing finger and saw an island just a few miles from where they were sailing.

Nami sighed. "It's off course, but it's the best bet we got right now." Nami looked at Chopper. "Chopper, making a 180 degree turn and head straight for that island!"

"Got it!" Chopper chimed, saluting and running away quickly to fulfil Nami's demand.

* * *

"Ah~!" Luffy sighed, stretching when he felt the soft sand beneath his feet. "Well, time to explore!"

"Not so fast!" Nami shouted, grabbing Luffy's collar. "You're the one to blame for this predicament!"

"Oh, just let him go," Zoro sighed. "Not like he can do anything to help."

"True…" Usopp, Chopper, Brook, and Sanji sighed.

"Hey, you guys might want to come look at this!" Frankie shouted from down the beach, waving franticly.

Everyone quickly stopped bickering and ran over, only to be shocked to find a wrecked ship on the sand.

"Wow…" Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp said, jaws dropping at the size of it.

The ship looked old and tattered, like it had been through hell before finding refuge on the beach. There was a hole in the bottom of the ship which, if paid close attention, was being fixed; the flag was tattered so much it was hard seeing who it belonged to; and the sails were beyond repair.

"I wonder what happened," Nami pondered.

"Attacked maybe?" Sanji suggested.

"Or swept into a hurricane," Robin said, crossing her arms.

"Could have been anything…" Usopp said.

"Let's go check it out!" Luffy chimed, throwing a fist into the air before stretching his arm up and getting on board the ship.

"Oi, Luffy!" Sanji and Zoro shouted, running after their captain.

"I suddenly got the 'scary-ships-that-are-tattered-and-broken' disease…" Usopp said, hiding behind Frankie.

"You three stay with the ship!" Nami ordered Chopper, Frankie, and Brook. "Come on Usopp!"

Usopp cried as he followed Nami and Robin reluctantly.

* * *

Up on deck of the tattered ship it looked like nothing had gone wrong. The place was clean, spotless, except for a few broken barrels in a corner. The doors were intact and so were the windows, which just made the Straw Hat crew wonder what exactly happened to get it this way.

"Hey, guys, come look at this!" Luffy shouted from one of the rooms.

Everyone ran over and were surprised to see a room filled with fruit from the island. This set off the suspicion alarm in Zoro's head, making him think, _know, _that someone was occupying this ship.

"This is enough food to last months…" Sanji said, picking up a few fruits in his hands. "On top of that, they're all fresh and high quality."

"Fruit isn't the only thing in here…" Usopp said after he opened a nearby chest.

Nami quickly ran over, eyes glittering at the sight of riches beyond her imagination. "Gold!"

"I wonder how someone could just leave all this stuff here…" Usopp questioned.

"Who cares, food!" Luffy said, about to put a fruit into his mouth.

"Ya eat that fruit and I'll shoot yer head off before ya even take the first bite."

Everyone froze when they heard the sound of a gun cocking back and ready to fire. They turned around to see a woman standing there with a cigarette in her mouth and a shotgun pointed right at them from the doorway. She had red hair which was tide back in a ponytail and she wore a gray tank top (which showed just as much of her chest as Nami's top) with a pair of black shorts which were most likely jeans at one point before getting cut and brown boots.

Zoro was about to draw his swords and attack, but the woman saw it coming and shot a warning towards him before he could even unsheathe the blade. "Move another inch and I'll make sure that doesn't miss." Zoro, not wanting to make a hassle of something he could avoid at the most, put his swords back in the sheaths and didn't move another inch like requested.

"Are you the owner of this ship?" Robin questioned.

"Yes, I am," the woman asked. "Who the hell are you people?"

"You mean you don't recognize the famous Straw Hat Crew?" Usopp said with pride. But when the gun was pointed at him he turned back into a coward.

"Straw Hats?" the woman repeated, cocking an eyebrow. "Ya mean those kids running around playing pirate are you fellas?"

"We're not kids," Nami said, laughing a bit. "We're older than you anyway."

"What'd you say?" the woman snarled, cocking her gun and pointing it at Nami. "I'm twenty, for your information, and have far more experience on these seas then you."

"Whoa," Sanji said, stepping in between Nami and the woman holding the shotgun. "No need to start fighting, ladies."

"Who are you anyway?" Luffy questioned, stuffing another fruit in his mouth.

"I told you not to eat those!" the woman shouted, but Luffy just continued packing them down without a care.

The woman sighed and put her gun down. "Chasaji*, but most people just call me Chas."

"Teaspoon?" Luffy and Usopp questioned, tilting their heads to the side.

The woman, called Chas, glared at Luffy and Usopp and corrected both of them.

"Oh, Chas-san!" Sanji said, getting on one knee and taking Chas's hand in his. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sanji, that chef of the Straw Hat crew."

"Also a major pervert," Zoro mumbled, cleaning out his ear with one of his fingers.

"Shut up you airheaded swordsman!" Sanji shouted, glaring at Zoro.

"What did you call me, Curly Q?" Zoro growled in reply.

Chas pulled up her shotgun and pointed it at Sanji, glaring at him. "Get yer grubby hands off of me..." Sanji obliged, but just fell more in love with her from her demanding nature.

"How'd you end up here anyway?" Usopp asked.

"Sea monster…" Chas sighed. "Thing popped out of nowhere and scared the hell out of me and my crew."

"Crew?" Nami questioned. "You're a Captain?"

Chas nodded. "Yes, crew. And _was _a Captain."

"Where's yer crew now?" Sanji asked, finally getting over his 'love struck' situation.

"'Sleepin' with the fishes' or so people like to call it," Chas said, picking up a bag over in the corner. She slung it over her shoulder then looked back to the others. "Now, enough questions about me, I still wanna know why the hell yer on my ship."

"Our idiot captain ate all our rations," Nami said, pointing to Luffy who was still stuffing his face full of fruit.

"We stopped on the island to see if we can get anything before hitting the next town on our list to resupply," Robin said, smiling. "We just came across your ship when we were about to search."

Chas nodded her head and looked to Luffy. "So yer the one they call 'Straw Hat Luffy' with the 400,000,000 on his head?"

Luffy looked up after stuffing one more fruit into his mouth. "Yeah, that's me."

Chas continued to look at Luffy for a moment, before pointing her shotgun at him and shooting. At first everyone was surprised but when Luffy sent the bullet back and Chas dodged it without any trouble, the group believed she knew what to expect.

"So you really did eat a Devil Fruit…" Chas said, smirking.

"Was shooting him really necessary to figure that out?!" Nami and Usopp shouted.

Robin laughed with a small smile. "She just wanted closure on the rumors."

Luffy got up and walked over to Chas. He stood in front of her, eyeing her as he finished off another fruit. When the fruit was gone, he gave a grin and said, "All right, it's decided!"

"What's decided?" Usopp said.

"Oh no…" Nami mumbled.

Zoro and Sanji chuckled, knowing full well what was coming next.

"Join my crew!" Luffy said, holding out his hand to Chas.


	2. Chapter 2

"Not a chance," Chas said flatly.

"Whaaaat?" Luffy whined. "Why not?"

Chas didn't answer Luffy, instead she walked by him and headed out the door.

"He doesn't give up," Zoro said with a small smirk, making Chas stop in the doorway.

Chas looked back over her shoulder about to say something towards Zoro, but her words were cut off when voices from outside were heard.

"Doesn't look like it's here, Captain!"

"Keep looking, I know that girl has them!"

Chas looked back over her shoulder, franticly. She then looked back at Luffy and his crew, saying, "Find a place to hide, quickly!"

"Why do we-"

Before Usopp could continue, Chas glared at him, making him go silent. "Just do it!" Chas quickly ran past the group and pulled up one of the loose boards and held it up. "Get in here, they won't find you if you hide here."

"Who won't?" Luffy questioned. Chas didn't answer.

Nami shoved Luffy into the hold along with the others and Chas quickly shut it after they were all well and hidden. Chas then took a deep breath and stepped out onto deck.

"There's the lovely lady we've been looking for!"

Three men stood in front of Chas on deck, two of them were twins with red and blue shirts and caps which were called Dee and Dum (surprisingly). The last man was their Captain, Mortimer, who had gray hair and a fairly over exerted style for clothing, the only thing that didn't contradicted the bright purples, pinks, greens, and yellows was the brown hat on his head with a red and black feather in it. All three were three times Chas's height, but even so she didn't back down a bit.

"Why are you here?" Chas snarled. "I thought I told you never to come by again."

"Things changed when I learned something seemed off about the story you gave me," Captain Mortimer said.

Chas laughed, not realizing that the Straw Hats were looking out through the window. "And what am I supposed to do about that?"

"I _know _you have it." Mortimer looked to Dee and Dum, snapping his fingers. Before Chas had time to act, Dee had her pined to the wall by the throat and Dum was searching her bag.

"Give that back!" Chas shouted, struggling to get free, but the grip around her neck got tighter.

"They're not here, Captain!" Dum said, throwing the bag off to the side. "What now?"

"Let go of me!" Chas groaned, trying to kick Dee but failing miserably.

"Where is the book and compass, Captain Chasaji?" Mortimer said. "Oh, wait, you're not a Captain anymore, are you?"

Chas laughed and said with what breath she could, "I was a better Captain than you are now."

Mortimer gritted his teeth and snapped his fingers again.

Dee soon threw Chas onto the ground, sending her through the floorboards and into the sand below. She screamed at the piercing feeling in her chest, knowing something must have been broken from impact, but it was nothing she hadn't felt before.

Dee jumped down to the ground and picked Chas up and threw her back onto deck, then jumped back up and left her there.

"Where is the book and compass?!" Mortimer shouted. "I know you have it! Now where is it?!"

Chas sat up, spitting out blood onto the deck. "Sorry, don't know what you're talking about."

Mortimer gritted his teeth. "Fine, but you will regret not telling me, Chas… Let's go men." Mortimer then walked away with De and Dum by his side.

"Chas-san!" Sanji shouted, quickly running out with Luffy and Zoro to see if she was all right.

"I'm fine!" Chas said, raising a hand and getting up like nothing had happened. "Not the first time this happened." Everyone looked quite surprised when Chas stood up like she hadn't even been thrown into the hard ground. She stretched and bent over a few times, then looked back at everyone else, hands on her hips. "What?"

"What was that all about?" Zoro asked, crossing his arms.

Chas crossed her arms and rubbed the back of her neck. "Something that I was carrying in my cargo…" Chas shook her head. "But that doesn't matter, it sunk at sea when that stupid sea monster attacked, so it shouldn't be a problem." _  
_

"If it sunk, why is that guy after it?" Nami asked.

Chas looked at Nami and groaned. "It's nothing that ya need to worry about." Chas grabbed her bag and turned her back to everyone. "There's a town just south of here, I suggest you make yer way there if ya want to resupply before hitting another major one."

"Wait, Chas-san!" Sanji cried, running after Chas, but she had jumped off the ship and was walking away before anyone could say anything more.

"OI!"

Chas froze and looked back over her shoulder only to be surprised to see Luffy was the one shouting at her from deck.

"I still want you to join my crew!" Luffy shouted.

Chas smirked and shouted straight back at him. "Let's make a deal then: If we meet again _then _I'll join yer crew!"

Luffy smirked and laughed. "All right! It's a promise!"

Chas scoffed and began walking away again, hearing Sanji yelling that he would travel the world just to see her lovely face again and Zoro yelling at him for being so stupid as to say such things. All in all, Chas didn't mind the group and would have most likely joined them after careful consideration. But she knew she had somewhere else she needed to be, and that wasn't with them.

* * *

Sanji gave another sigh, slouching and in a rather depressed state. "I miss Chas-san…" He released another sigh. "Here one second then gone the next…such a tragedy…"

"Get over it you lazy cook…" Zoro said, kicking up his feet onto the table.

"I'll get over it when you stop being such a pain in my ass!" Sanji countered.

Luffy sighed, patting his now full stomach. "I liked her."

"I kind of liked her too," Usopp said, setting his cup against the table of the café they were in. "Too bad she just up and left like that."

"It was too bad," Nami said, sighing. "I was so close to getting that treasure too."

"That's all you ever think about!" Zoro and Usopp shouted.

"She was rather interesting," Robin said, smiling. "Although, I'm really curious as to what she was saying sunk at sea."

"What are you guys talking about?" Chopper said. After the others had meet with Chas and returned to their ship, they grabbed Chopper and headed for town, leaving Franky and Brook to look after the ship. In the next three or four hours they had managed to make it to town and found a nice café to relax in.

"We meet a girl on that busted ship!" Luffy said cheerfully. "She was amazing! She held us at gun point, then shot me, then told us a story about how she's a Captain of her own ship, then these three men showed up and attacked her, and after they left she got up like nothing happened!"

"You mean like Zoro?!" Chopper gasped, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"Yeah, yeah!" Luffy agreed.

"Oi, I'm nothing like that!" Zoro shouted at them.

"OI!" The group stopped talking and looked out to the street, seeing a man running towards a nearby shop. "Did you hear? Something's on fire at the beach!"

"Really?!" the owner shouted. He quickly closed his shop and followed the man towards the beach, which was in perfect view of where the Pirate crew was. Something was indeed on fire at the beach, and there was the small feeling they knew what it was. The Straw Hat's quickly got up and hurried towards the beach only to find the scene was indeed what they had imagined: Chas's boat was on fire. It seemed to have been burning for quite some time from all the smoke in the air and how much wood had been torn off. The crew guessed it must have been lit sometime after they had left and headed for town.

"THE TREASURE!" Nami cried, dropping to her knees.

"Is that all you're concerned about?!" everyone shouted, except Luffy and Robin.

Robin was looking around the crowd and was surprised to find Chas hidden in the crowd, watching her own boat burn with a straight face. Robin knew that the straight face was a façade, because even from the distance between both women, Robin could see small tears trickle down Chas's face.

Luffy on the other hand was frustrated beyond belief. He knew who had done this and he couldn't believe that in such a short time such a drastic measure was taken. Something precious to one of his crew members was gone, and the person who had taken it was going to pay a deep price for it.

Zoro and Sanji turned around, following where Robin was looking and noticed Chas, walking away into the forest with her hands in her pockets. They both had a bad feeling when seeing how tense she was, and saying as her boat was now burning, they knew she was looking for revenge on whoever did it.

"Think those three from earlier have anything to do with this?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette in his mouth.

"Wouldn't doubt it," Usopp said, scowling at the burning boat. "But don't you think this a bit over the top for just trying to find something that is supposed to be sunk at sea?"

"Unless Chas was lying and it didn't really get sunk," Nami said.

"Whatever the reason," Sanji said, "it must be awfully important if they go to such an extent."

"Luffy?" Usopp said watching as Luffy walked away. "Oi, Luffy!"

"Luffy, where are you going?" Nami shouted, running after him.

"I'm going to find whoever did this, and kick their ass," Luffy said, walking away.

The others watched him as he walked away, having the slight feeling of anger that he did. After a moment of silence for the ship burning before them, they followed their Captain with the same intent he had: Revenge for a comrade.

* * *

**I do hope that this story isn't starting to get boring or anything. And I apologize if the character's are a little off, only read the series once and barely watched the anime. I try keeping people close to their given personality's, but it's quite difficult. Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed and beg you to stay with me, in time it'll get better.**

**Thank you for support.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so, the introduction was kind of quick, along with getting to the main fight, but that's because I wasn't going to do three chapters for each fight…that's just pointless. Anyway, during this chapter you might notice a few similarities to Baby 5 and Chas. But have in mind, Chas's character and Devil Fruit power was thought up before Baby 5 was introduced (when I was reading it). Just so happens I met her right after creating Chas…. So ya, that's all.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Captain Mortimer was startled awake by the sound of guns blazing and explosions shaking the halls. Whatever noise was going on outside his humble abode woke him from his afternoon nap. Trying to be an evil Pirate Lord will do that to ya.

"Captain!" one of his crew men shouted, running into the room. "Captain Chasaji is on her way up here!"

"Chas?" Mortimer shouted, surprised. "How the hell did she break our defenses?!"

"She's-"

"Not very 'defendable' if ya ask me if all yer men get frantic over a few gun shots. Even De and Dum collapsed after a few shots."

Captain Mortimer and his crew mate looked towards the door to see Chas standing there, shotgun over her shoulder, glaring dangers at the Captain. Mortimer narrowed his eyes at Chas, looking her bruised and bleeding body over. He didn't seem as surprised as his crew member when he saw Chas's arm was in the form of a shotgun, he simply began laughing at her.

Chas narrowed her eyes more at the man and pointed her shotgun arm at the Captain. "What the hell are you laughing about?!"

"I never fully understood why you were known as 'Shotgun Chasaji', but now I know," Mortimer said, still laughing. "You ate a Kaki Kaki no Mi, didn't you?!"

"Wasn't like I _wanted_ to eat it, Old Timer," Chas said, narrowing her eyes a bit more. "Now I want you to answer my questions honestly. If not, I'll paint these walls a pretty red."

Mortimer laughed once again at Chas's demanding nature. "All right, I'll answer your questions."

"Why did you burn my ship?" Chas growled, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

"Getting so worked up over a boat, Chas?" Mortimer said. "I thought you were better than that."

"That was _my _vessel!" Chas shouted, taking a few steps forward into the room. "_No one _harms my ship without hearing from me later!"

"Well, I'm sure it won't be missed," the old geezer said, standing to his feet. "After all, this could have been avoided if you had just given me the book and compass."

Chas gritted her teeth together, grinding them loudly. He had drawn the last straw with her, now her anger was boiling over the top.

Chas's arm changed back and soon after she clapped her hands together, shouting, "Kaki Kaki no…" Her arms changed slowly as the last words were said. "MACHINEGUN!" Soon after, Chas began firing multiple upon multiple bullets towards Captain Mortimer, hoping that one would hit the right place to get rid of him for good. The more she shot him, the more her energy drained, but she believed it was worth it.

Chas stopped firing for a moment and waited for the smoke to clear. She saw the white hair come out of the smoke and her eyes widened when she saw the man smirking. When the smoke fully cleared, Chas knew why. In front of the man was a steel shield formed from his body.

"N-No…" Chas gasped, dropping her arms to her side. "T-That's not…"

"Oh, but it is possible, Chas," Captain Mortimer said, his arms going back to their humanly form. "That makes both of us Devil Fruit users." Mortimer spread his arms and laughed. "With the help of the Hagane Hagane no Mi running through my body your bullets can not touch me!" Mortimer soon looked at Chas and charged her.

Chas quickly dodged the man's fist and jumped away, only to be surprised by a counter.

"Hagane Hagane no Bat!" Captain Mortimer swung his steel arm towards Chas, landing a clean hit on her side, sending her flying towards the wall. The wall crumbled at the impact and Chas was buried beneath ruble, but she wasn't done.

Chas sat up only to have to quickly doge another attack from Captain Mortimer's Steel Bat technique. When she was away and far enough, she did her counter. "Kaki Kaki no Flamethrower!"

Flames flew out of the nozzles that Chas made with her hands, but it was no use.

"I told you already!" Captain Mortimer shouted. He came towards Chas, quickly, blocking the flames with another Steel Shield. When he was close enough, he batted Chas away again, making her hit the ground multiple times.

Chas tried standing to her feet to attack again, but she was batted again and again. She wasn't able to stand, attack, or do anything. Finally, when she was lying motionless on the ground, Captain Mortimer stopped attacking and stood over her.

"You can't beat me, Chas," he said, laughing. He lifted his foot and was about to bring it down on Chas, when he suddenly froze at the sound of another voice.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Captain Mortimer looked up just in time to get hit in the face by a fist and sent flying backwards into a wall. "PISTOL!"

Chas turned her head towards the door which had been crumbled to pieces and saw the familiar Straw Hat crew standing there.

"Straw Hat…" Chas whispered surprised.

Luffy stepped forward, fists clinched and eyes reflecting just how much he wanted to defeat Captain Mortimer.

Mortimer sat up dusting the rubble off of his hat and jacket. "So, the person who comes to rescue the defenseless Captain Chasaji is a lame ass kid."

"Luffy's not lame!" Usopp shouted, furious.

"He's the best Captain a crew could have!" Chopper shouted, hooves clinched together tightly.

"He is quite a good captain," Sanji said, blowing out smoke, "even if he eats all our rations."

"And is an idiot!" Nami said, crossing her arms proudly.

Captain Mortimer stood to his feet and looked at everyone before laughing loudly.

Luffy narrowed his eyes at Mortimer and stood their listening to loud, evil, and annoying laugh.

"Straw Hat," Chas said, standing to her feet, "you should stay out of this."

"She's right, Kid," Mortimer said, pointing. "You should just go back home and-"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Luffy shouted, stretching out his arm and sending it flying towards Mortimer. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy's fist landed in Mortimer's hand, stopping it before it could land another hit on his face. "Anyone who harms my crew member has to deal with me!"

"I never agreed to join you!" Chas shouted.

"Like I said," Zoro said, shrugging, "he doesn't give up."

"'No' isn't in his vocabulary," Robin said, winking at Chas.

"Chopper," Luffy said, smirking. "Take care of Teaspoon!"

"Right!" Chopped said, nodding. He then grabbed Chas's hand and began dragging her away to safety.

"Wait a minute!" Chas shouted back at Luffy. "You can't take him on by yourself! He'll-" Chas was soon knocked out by Zoro knocking the hilt of his sword against her head, making her collapse right onto his outstretched arm.

"What's wrong with you, Marimo?!" Sanji shouted. "You shouldn't hit a woman like that!"

"Ah, shut up you stupid cook!" Zoro shouted, glaring at Sanji. "She was getting annoying!" Zoro looked back at Chopper. "Chopper, take care of her."

"R-Right," Chopper said, growing and taking Chas into his arms. He then left to a safer place with Nami and Robin following behind.

Captain Mortimer narrowed his eyes at Luffy, meeting the cold gaze with pride. "So you're the kid Dee and Dum told me about that was asking questions about me."

"I wouldn't have asked questions if this place was easy to find," Luffy answered, innocently.

"Just turns out we saw an explosion and came running towards it…" Usoppp sighed.

"All the more, you really think you'll be able to beat me with the Gomu Gomu no Mi?" Mortimer laughed. "Nothing can pierce through my Hagane Hagane no Mi abilities!" Mortimer soon began laughing.

"Oi, Luffy," Zoro said, crossing his arms. Luffy looked back over his shoulder. "Make this quick, all right?"

Luffy smirked and nodded.

Mortimer charged forward, running towards Luffy full force. "Hagane Hagane no Bat!" Mortimer swung his arm of Luffy, but Luffy ducked and dodged every swing, until he found his opening.

"Gomu Gomu no Spear!" Luffy stabbed his feet at Mortimer, only managing to send the man back a few feet. He then stretched out his arm and shouted, "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy attacked, but froze when his attack was blocked by Mortimer's steel shield.

"Hagane Hagane no"-Motimer smirked-"Sling shot!"

Luffy was soon sent flying into the air and came crashing to the ground. He quickly regained his feet and continued with his fighting, but only managing to make dents in the steel shield.

"This is going to take longer than expected," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette.

"Might as well just sit back and watch the fireworks," Zoro said, sitting down with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Chas slowly opened her eyes, but quickly shut them when the blinding sun was in her face. She didn't know how long she was out, but it didn't matter. She could hear the fight still ensuing behind her, or she figured it was behind her. Her ears were ringing so much she couldn't understand what noise was coming from where.

"Nami, Robin, she's awake!" a small, adorable, voice shouted.

Chas opened her eyes and was wide awake when she laid eyes on Chopper, looking right at her.

"Thank goodness you're all right!" Chopper said, smiling. "I was worried you wouldn't wake up after Zoro hit you so hard."

_Zoro? _Chas questioned, trying to remember which Straw Hat pirate that was. That's when the green hair and scared face came into mind. _Roronoa Zoro? I've only heard rumors but…_

"How are you feeling, Captain-san?" Robin asked, kneeling next to Chas.

"I-I'm fine…" Chas mumbled, sitting up.

Chopper pushed against Chas, making her lay back down. "You shouldn't move just yet! You were injured badly!"

Chas looked at Chopper and lifted an eyebrow. "Who's the Reindeer?"

Chopper's jaw dropped. He was so surprised that she understood her was a reindeer and not a deer. His eyes shined and there was a light blush on his cheeks. "You think calling me a reindeer will make me flattered! Asshole!" Chopper then chuckled to himself, turning his back to Chas and dancing a bit.

"This is Tony Tony Chopper," Nami said, "our Doctor."

"The Tsundere Reindeer is yer crew's Doctor?" Chas questioned, laughing. "That's rather funny." Chas soon stopped laughing and remembered what was actually happening when a loud bang was heard from behind. "Wait, what's happening?"

"Luffy's fighting Captain Mortimer," Chopper said. "They've been at it for at least an hour now."

"Usually Luffy would have been the guy by now…" Nami said. "But I guess it's just to be expected…"

Chas looked to Nami and Robin. "Stand me up." Chas began sitting up, ignoring the fact that she was hurting everywhere. She knew she had been tossed around too much and shouldn't really move, but she needed to defeat Mortimer by herself, or at least see Luffy beat the man at the very least.

"Wait a minute!" Nami said, trying to make Chas lay down. "You're not well-"

"I said"-Chas narrowed her eyes at Nami coldly, making the girl shiver a bit-"stand me up."

* * *

There was finally silence in the smashed room. The walls were crumbling, but the two figures stood in the center un touched by it, both trying to catch their breath.

"I'm surprised you lasted this long, kid," Captain Mortimer said with a light chuckle. "Maybe it's true what they say about you."

Luffy didn't say anything, just tried getting his breath back. He was worn out, and even through all the swings and hits he hadn't managed to break any one of Mortimer's steel shields. Even when using Gear Two and Gear Third, the shields wouldn't break, only dent.

"Come on, Luffy!" Usopp rooted, clinching his fist and punching the air. "You can beat this sorry excuse for a Captain!"

Captain Mortimer laughed, but was cut off when Luffy sent another 'Gomu Gomu no Bazooka' at him. Mortimer was quick and managed to put up a shield right before it hit him, but the force from the attack surprised him. The shield was dinted, worse than before, any harder and it would have gone right through.

"Luffy!"

Luffy turned around and saw Chas there having help from Nami to stand on her feet.

"Teaspoon…" Luffy said.

"That's not my name!" Chas shouted furiously. She soon cleared her throat and looked at Luffy seriously. "I appreciate yer help, but this is my fight. I need to do this myself."

"Still going on about that?!" Usopp shouted at Chas, but she paid no attention. "You were almost killed already, you really think-"

"All right," Luffy said smiling. "I leave the rest up to you, Teaspoon."

Chas smirked and gave a small laugh. For some reason when he called her 'teaspoon' she didn't mind all that much. Chas stepped forward, leaving Nami behind, and walked toward Captain Mortimer, high-fiving Luffy as he passed by.

"You can do it," Luffy whispered.

Chas nodded and smiled. She stopped in the middle of the floor and looked at Captain Mortimer, smirking. She was confident, even though her legs were barely holding her up.

"Luffy…" Chopper said, looking at Luffy. "Are you sure about this? She's barely able to stand with her injuries."

Luffy crossed his arms and nodded proudly. "She can do it." Luffy grinned and looked down at Chopper. "I know she can."

Chopper looked back at Chas, sighing and wondering if Luffy was in his right mind. But the answer to that had been answered in many ways. Luffy knew what he was talking about and Chopper needed to believe it.

"Back for more, Chas?" Mortimer laughed, placing his hands on his hips. "You're just as stupid as that 'Straw Hat' boy over there!"

"Quit yer talkin' and come at me!" Chas said, motioning a hand towards Mortimer.

Mortimer chuckled and charged towards Chas, calling out his steel bat again. Chas ducked and quickly dodged it again.

_Left, right, under, left, right… _Chas continued to repeat in her head. She smirked. _Opening… _Chas soon attacked with her Kaki Kaki no Machinegun and had managed to send Mortimer back a bit.

"SHE'S A DEVIL FRUIT USER?!" everyone in the Straw Hat group screamed, surprised.

"NANI?!" Luffy shouted, quite surprised himself.

Everyone looked at Luffy, even more surprised that he didn't know that even with so much confidence in her abilities. "YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS?!"

"I told you before!" Captain Mortimer shouted, managing to land a hit on Chas. "You can't beat me with your childish weapons!"

Chas quickly regained her stance and charged the man with no weapon prepared.

"Have you gotten desperate, Chas?!" Mortimer shouted, he was soon surprised when Chas slipped under his legs and stood up a few feet behind him. He turned around and faced her, shouting, "Hagane Hagane no…"

"Kaki Kaki no…" Chas began saying, forgetting about the aching pain in her sides and legs. "Bazooka!"

"Spear!" Mortimer shouted at the same time.

Soon Chas's hands changed into a large Bazooka launcher as Mortimer's hands changed into a large spear. Soon the rocket and spear launched straight towards each of them. The force from Chas's shot sent her back a bit, having not full control over the power, but Mortimer kept his ground.

Mortimer was hit straight on with the rocket and an explosion filled the room, clouding everything with smoke. No one saw who was still standing after that.

"Did she hit him?" Usopp asked franticly.

"It was a direct hit," Zoro answered. But soon his and everyone's eyes widened when the smoke cleared to reveal Chas and Mortimer. Mortimer was unharmed, having protected himself with a Steel Shield, but Chas wasn't so lucky. Chas was left severely injured from the spear

"As I've been saying, Chas," Mortimer said, laughing with what little breath he had. "You're Kaki Kaki no Mi attacks are useless against me. You'll never be able to hit me!"

Chas's pale face showed a smile, confident and full of egotism. "Who said…anythin' about…tryin' to hit ya?" Chas then laughed to herself as she looked up and laughed. "I was aimin' for that damn shield ya had so much confidence in."

Mortimer's eyes widened when he heard small cracks breaking in his Steel Shield. He couldn't believe it. After all the damage that had been dealt to him from Chas's previous tries and Luffy's punches, his shield broke from one hit by a rocket.

Mortimer let out a blood cringing scream as his shield fell to pieces. He dropped to his knees, still not fully comprehending what just happened to him.

"She did it!" Usopp and Luffy cheered.

"I knew she would win," Usopp said, nodding his head.

Zoro scoffed and gave a small smirk before crossing his arms. He couldn't say he wasn't impressed.

"Shouldn't we help her?" Robin suggested, pointing in front of her.

Sanji looked up and over to Chas only to see the woman having some difficulty standing to her feet, but every time she tried she fell back down to her knees. "Chas-san!" Sanji and Chopper were about to run forward, but Chas held up a hand, stopping them. Both boys grimaced but obliged to her wishes when they saw Captain Mortimer wasn't done fighting yet. Sanji, however, still had the urge to help her, but he held back when he remembered how much confidence Luffy had in her. He wouldn't have let her fight if he believed she would die that quickly.

Chas placed her hand on her side, groaning as she stood back to her feet. Blood continued to leak out, getting her hand wet and staining the floor. "Looks like he got me good…" When Chas was back to her feet, she took a deep breath and looked back to Mortimer who still looked like he had some fight left in him.

"Ya sent a sea monster after me," Chas said, stepping towards Captain Mortimer with a small limp in her step. "Threatened me into givin' you my treasure. Then ya burned my boat…" Chas stopped in front of Captain Mortimer, having a warm feeling of closure wash over her when she punched him square in the face. "That's for my crew!" Chas threw another punch, tears coming to her eyes. "That's for all the crap you've put me through!" Chas kneaded Mortimer in the face when he bent over, sending him to the ground, bleeding. Tears streamed down her face now. "That's for burnin' my ship!" Chas stopped for a moment, panting and looking down on Mortimer. She raised her leg and kicked him in the face, knocking him out. "And _that's_ for stealin' my hat!"

Chas stood there for a moment, smiling to herself when she realized all her problems were gone. She gave a sigh of relief. Chas bent down, picking up the black hat that had fallen to the ground. She dusted it off and placed it on her head. "I'll be takin' this back now." Chas then turned her back to Mortimer and walked towards Luffy, smiling.

"Chas-saaaaaan!" Sanji chimed, stretching out his arms to hug Chas, but he soon found himself catching her when she toppled over.

"Guess I'm a bit worn out," Chas chuckled, looking up at Sanji. "Thanks for catching me, Black Leg."

Sanji smiled and nodded at her. "You did well, Chas-san."

"You did get beaten up quite a bit though," Luffy laughed, rubbing his nose.

Chas looked at Luffy and smirked. "I wasn't the only one." Chas shut her eyes and laughed again. "I'm glad you were around, Straw Hat…"

"Hm?" Luffy said, hearing her words roam off near the end.

"Chas?" Usopp said, nudging her a bit, but it seems she had fallen asleep.

"She really is like Zoro…" Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp said nonchalantly.

"Idiots!" Sanji shouted. "She's nothing like the ass licking Marimo!" Sanji sighed, a blush coming to his face and hearts in his eyes. "Chas-san is cute, strong, sexy, smart-"

"And bleeding all over you," Zoro cut in.

"AH!" Chopper screamed. "She's losing too much blood! If we don't get her back to the ship quickly she'll die!"

Before any could actually say anything about Chopper's urgent message, Sanji had picked up Chas and said, "I will not allow my love to die so easily!" Sanji then ran off towards the ship without another thought, leaving everyone with their own, malicious and arbitrating, thoughts.

* * *

**Okay, I do hope this story is all and well for you readers. I still think there are a few things that are off so I would be very pleased if I heard some feed back from you guys. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and hope to see you next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

The evening had set in and the Straw Hat Pirates were finally able to relax after getting their needed supplies and solving the troublesome problem with Captain Mortimer. Everyone was up on deck, celebrating about their recent victory, and to their astonishment, their new crew member. After much shouting, a few threats from Chopper about health, and a reminder about her given promise from Luffy, Chas had agreed to join Luffy and everyone on their journey.

"Chas-saaaaaan!" Sanji chimed, spinning around a few times before bowing in front of Chas and holding out the green bottle with brown liquid in it. "Here is the bottle of Sherry you asked for."

Chas looked up and said with a straight face, "Ah, thanks, Black Leg." Chas then took the bottle and was about to pop the cork when Sanji suddenly grabbed her hand, lightly kissing the back.

"Please, call me Sanji," he said.

"Oi!" Luffy and Usopp shouted. "Don't hog her all to yourself!" The two then shoved Sanji away from Chas and sat on both sides of her, blocking her from anymore 'attacks' by Sanji.

"Did you really sail through the Grand Line three times?!" Luffy asked, enthusiastically.

"Did you really break out of every Marine base there is?" Usopp asked, just as enthusiastically as Luffy.

Chas chuckled. "Those were just rumors spreading around." Chas looked at Luffy. "I've only sailed to the Grand Line twice, there was going to be a third, but I found a better job to do." Chas then looked to Usopp. "And, no, I have _not _broken out of every Marine base there is… I've broken out of two." Chas looked away from them, leaning back and taking a large drink of Sherry, she then smirked, having the vivid memory of her breaking out running through her head. "And they were _not _as heavily guarded as people would expect."

"I highly doubt that," Zoro sneered after setting down his bottle of sake.

Chas narrowed her eyes at Zoro. "Wanna bet, Warabimochi?"

Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and even Sanji began laughing loudly at the new nickname she had given the swordsman.

"W-Warabimochi?" Zoro repeated, surprised and slightly angered at just imagining himself as a green ball of Mochi.

Chas leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at him. "How high is yer bounty, Mochi?"

Zoro gritted his teeth at the name, but answered her question with confidence. "120,000,000."

"Oh!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper said. They looked to Chas to see her confident and smirking.

"That's quite the confident smile you got there, Taiyaki*," Zoro said, smirking. Zoro noticed Chas's eye slightly twitch when he called her that, making his smirk even more daring and challenging.

Chas growled at Zoro as he continued to smirk at her. She soon looked at her bag and began shuffling through it. When she found the old piece of paper she was looking for, she flashed it in Zoro's face. "Take that, Mochi"

Zoro snatched the paper from Chas's hands and put it at a readable distance, a look of surprise then read across his face, as did everyone else's face. In his hands was the bounty poster for Chas, or "Shotgun Chasaji" as she was more commonly known as, with a picture of her tipping her hat and at the bottom of the page were the big letters that said…

"250,000,000?!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopped said, gawking.

Chas crossed her arms and laughed lightly. "Got that right." She then drank some more Sherry and sighed, content with winning.

_That's more than most of ours… _everyone, except Luffy, thought. Luffy on the other hand was quite impressed with her for having such a high bounty. Then again, it wasn't hard to believe saying as she _was _a Captain of her own ship.

Zoro quickly shoved the paper back at Chas and quickly downed his bottle of sake. Zoro then grumbled to himself a bit before starting another bottle of sake.

"Oh, Marimo's moping now…" Sanji shouted, laughing.

"Who's 'moping' you shitty chef?!" Zoro shouted at him.

Pretty soon, the usual fight between the two began and everyone wasn't paying any attention to them, knowing there was no helping.

Chas looked at everyone and soon remembered the one thing she had forgotten about. She soon began rummaging around in her bag again, throwing out a few things which in turn Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky began playing with.

"Chas?" Chopper said, walking up to the girl as she threw a deflated ball at Luffy who was overly happy to have it. "What are you looking for?"

"I had something for you guys," Chas said, turning her bag inside out. "Well, more for the navigator than anyone else."

"For me?" Nami questioned, eyes brightening. "Is it treasure?!"

Chas chuckled and soon smirked when she found what she was looking for. In her hand was a beaten up old journal with gold embroidery. It looked like it been through hell, having been burned, drowned, and probably smashed a few times by the looks. Even so, it held together.

Chas tossed the book to Nami who caught it with care and began looking it over. "What is this?" Nami continued to flip through the pages, soon realizing that it was an old (very old) Log Post. She began wondering why Chas had thrown her such a thing, until she saw the one specific word she loved.

"I heard that the Log Post yer holding gives clues to a secret treasure," Chas said, stuffing all her things back in the bag. "Not a lot of people have had the chance to get a look at that book, so I would keep it safe from those who wish to steal it, which is everyone."

"So that's what that Mortimer guy wanted," Sanji said, looking over Nami's shoulder to get a glimpse at the book.

"Do you remember that cargo I told you about, the one that sunk at sea?" Chas said, leaning back with a smirk.

"Yeah," everyone said (including Brook and Franky who had gotten the whole story from her earlier).

"Wait," Usopp said, waving his hands franticly, "_that's _what the cargo was? _That _tiny book?!"

"The very same!" Chas said, taking a big drink of Sherry from the bottle.

"Why'd you say it sunk then?" Nami asked.

"She didn't want unnecessary hands to get ahold of it, right?" Robin said, smiling.

"That's right," Chas said, nodding. She soon reached into her jacket pocket, the jacket she had gotten from the remains of her ship, and pulled out a small compass like thing. "The book was being carried with this." Chas tossed it to Nami, who caught it and looked it over. "But after the accident…it broke…"

"So all that's left is the book," Nami said.

"All right!" Luffy shouted, standing to his feet. "Our next heading is to wherever this treasure is!"

This was how the great adventure started and how it was going to quickly come to an end.


	6. Chapter 6

A few days had passed since the Straw Hat Pirates set out onto the open sea again, heading towards the destination they were supposed to be going to before they got off course.

Nothing had really happened for the past two days. Luffy got into mischief, continuing to bug Nami about seeing the journal, which she continued to deny him access to; Sanji was in the kitchen; Franky was steering the Thousand Sunny as per usual; Chopper was helping Usopp with the small plants kept onboard the ship; Brook and Robin were having usual chats and every now and then Brook bugged Chas about seeing her panties, which she always threatened him not to do unless he wants his head…uh…_skull_, blown off. Chas on the other hand didn't spend much time trying to get to know the crew she had just joined and if fact spent all her time doing one thing: Sleeping.

"She's way too similar to Zoro…" Usopp said, peeking over the railing and down towards Chas who was sleeping soundly in the shade. "It freaks me out…"

"Well," Chopper said, smiling, "she was injured pretty badly, and lost a lot of blood. Any normal person would be resting a lot after that!"

"But she not normal!" Usopp countered. "She has a Devil Fruit!"

"You sound like I enjoy having this ability."

Usopp and Chopper looked down over the railing to see Chas looking up at them with a slight tip of her hat.

"So you don't like your Kaki Kaki no mi, Chas?" Chopper asked, tilting his head to the side.

Chas smirked and covered her face with her hat again. "I hate it with everything I am."

"Then why did you eat the damn thing in the first place?" Zoro said, opening is eye to look at her.

Chas lifted up her hat and looked at Zoro, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I say it was either eat the damn fruit or die of starvation." Chas smirked. "And I wasn't going to die there."

Zoro scoffed and closed his eye again, placing his hands behind his head and ready to take another nap. That was until something fell on him.

"Oh, sorry, Zoro." It was Luffy who had landed on him.

"Get off me!" Zoro shouted, shoving Luffy off of himself. He then looked at his clothes and sighed when it was as he feared, he was wet and slimy, same as how Luffy was. On top of that there was the small smell of…well…he didn't know what the smell was, but it was terrible. So, Zoro took off his jacket and threw it aside to get rid of the smell, but it hardly helped.

"Uh, Luffy," Usopp and Chopper said, shivering and pointing out to sea, "w-what have you done?!"

Luffy looked back over his shoulder and smiled. "Ah, I found him." Behind Luffy was a large squid who didn't seem too happy at the moment with all the bruises and cuts on his face.

Luffy looked back to his crew, his grin widening. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"No, not cool!" everyone shouted, beginning to back away from the Squid when it began raising a few of its tentacles to attack. The only person who didn't move was Zoro, who seemed rather pissed himself. He had pulled out two of his blades and just as the Squid's tentacle was about to land on him, he raised his blades and sliced it into little pieces. The pieces landed on deck and the Squid was left screaming.

"I don't think that was such a bright idea…" Chas said, crossing her arms.

"Shut up!" Zoro snapped, glaring back at her. He soon smirked when he saw surprise cross Chas's face when he cut through another tentacle without even turning around. But soon he was surprised when the sliced up pieces fell right on Chas.

"Oh," Usopp, Chopper, Franky, and Brook winced.

"Shit…" Zoro mumbled when he saw Chas narrow her eyes at him. She was drenched in slime and on top of the slim she had been colored green from goo and smelled terrible.

"You're so dead," Sanji laughed. "Just know I won't be at your funeral."

Chas pushed over one of the large pieces of tentacle off of her. She then stepped over the rest and made her way slowly towards Zoro who continued to back up with every step she took. That's when he felt a sudden wash of fear fall over him. It was rare (very rare) for him to be fearful of anything, but for some reason whenever a woman was angry, it terrified him.

Chas was mumbling curses under her breath and she laughed to herself. She cracked her knuckles a few times before lifting her leg and making a swing at Zoro's face.

Zoro quickly ducked before her boot could graze his face. Instead her kick had landed on the monster behind him, sending it flying back into the water. Zoro then stood and looked behind him, seeing the monster sinking. He then suddenly had an idea about what would have happened if he had gotten in that kick.

"AH!" Luffy screamed, hands holding the side of his head. "MY PET!"

"Forget about it!" Nami shouted.

Zoro looked back at Chas, just in time to dodge another kick, and then another, then another, and then another.

"C-Chas, oi, quit it!" he shouted, continuing to dodge kicks and now punches.

Just as Chas was about to throw another kick, the boat shook and threw her off balance, making her topple over along with the rest of the crew.

"What was that?" Chopper asked.

"I think our friend is back for more!" Usopp cried, pointing the squid who had now returned to torment the crew further.

"I've had enough of this…" Zoro said, holding up his blades. The only problem was, the squid didn't go for him; instead, it went for Chas who was still trying to regain her balance.

"CHAS-SAN!" Sanji shouted, reaching out to pull Chas out of the way, but he soon knew it was unnecessary.

Chas dodged the tentacle but as soon as she did, she noticed that the small reindeer, Chopper, had been hit and thrown off board. Chas, knowing she needed to do something, didn't hesitate before jumping into the water after Chopper.

"Is she senile?!" Usopp shouted.

Sanji gritted his teeth and quickly jumped into the water after them without a second thought.

* * *

After a little while, and after the brutal fight against the giant squid had ended, Sanji had resurfaced, only to have Chopper in his grasps. After he brought Chopper up onto deck, it was obvious to everyone that just getting the reindeer posed a hassle. With the sea as rough as it was, it was understandable.

"Chas-san is still down there," Sanji panted. He coughed up a bit, spitting out water before standing to his feet shakily. He didn't expect that he'd have to go down so far to just to reach Chopper. "I'll go back in and get her…"

"No," Zoro said, "you've done enough." Sanji looked at Zoro, narrowing his eyes at the swordsman as he continued to speak. "I'll do it. Just stay here with Chopper and the others." Zoro then threw his swords by his jacket and was about to dive into the water to retrieve Chas, but he was stopped when Sanji spoke again.

"Oi, Marimo"-Zoro looked back over his shoulder at the chef-"don't take too long." Zoro simply smirked and dived into the water.

Little time had passed before Zoro was back up again with Chas slung over his shoulder, unmoving.

"ZORO! CHAS!" Luffy and Usopp shouted, crying tears of joy to see both of them all right, one person in-particular.

"Quit the shouting and help me up!" Zoro shouted.

Luffy outstretched his arm and helped pull Zoro up and out of the water. When Zoro was on deck he quickly dropped Chas on the ground and sat down next to her, panting and trying to recover the energy he just used.

"Hey, you shouldn't be rough with her, Marimo!" Sanji scolded.

"Oh, shut up!" Zoro shouted. He scratched his head and turned to look at the girl beside him, hearing her begin to cough a great deal.

"What happened?" Chas asked, looking at Zoro for the answer.

"You jumped into water like an idiot," he answered solemnly.

Chas hummed in reply and rested her arm on her forehead, blocking out the sun. She closed her eyes and tried remembering what exactly happened. She remembered dodging the Squid, then jumping into the water because Chopper had been thrown in, like Zoro just told her. But…Chopper…where was he?

"Where's the little reindeer?" Chas asked, coughing up a bit more water. "He all right?"

"Chopper?" Luffy questioned. Luffy soon grinned like usual. "He's right here."

Chas turned her head and saw Chopper kneeling next to her, tears in his big eyes. "Glad to see yer all right, Doc." Chas smiled and laughed huskily when Chopper began crying and hugging her.

"Thank you, Chas!" Chopper blubbered. "Thank you so much for saving me!" The crying from Chopper continued for a while longer and everyone watching the heartwarming sight smiled, even Zoro.

Chas patted Chopper on the head, trying to get him to let her go and stop crying, but nothing was working. Chopper continued holding her in a death grip.

"You're a real idiot ya know," Usopp said, crossing his arms as he looked at Chas. "You're an anchor, what were you planning on doing by jumping in like that?"

Chas chuckled. "Yeah, yer right." Chas looked at Usopp and smirked. "They always say old habits don't die…" Chas then looked back at Chopper and rubbed his head once more before saying, "I'm tired…" and falling asleep right on the spot.

* * *

**Hey everyone, sorry for the late update. Blame summer school. Anyway, was this OCC? Strange? Confusing? Etc.? Opinions are VERY welcomed.**


	7. Chapter 7

"All right," Nami said placing her hands on her hips, "we'll draw straws to decide the groups and whoever has the shortest straws has to stay with the ship."

The Straw Hat Pirates were currently on the island they had set a course for before having to go on a detour to replenish supplies, enough for the trip to the town anyway. Sadly, the only thing the island before had was fruits, fish, and vegetables. Of course Sanji had made due because of his amazing cooking skills, but Luffy didn't last. He had went nuts after the third day without meat…and it was terrible.

Nami pulled out nine straws and held them out in front of her.

"Sounds fair enough," Zoro said, drawing a straw from Nami's hand. He looked at the straw he had just pulled and saw it was one that was as long as his forefinger, making him feel rather confident that he wouldn't have to watch the ship.

"Chas?" Nami said, holding out her hands towards the retired captain.

"As long as I don't get paired with this dumbass, then fine," Chas said, sighing. She drew a straw and smiled. "Well, well, looks like I win." Chas held up her straw to Zoro, laughing confidently. The straw was long, much longer then Zoro's.

Zoro narrowed his eyes at Chas and gave a small snarl. After that he didn't say anything else.

It was obvious to everyone that sparks flied whenever the two were together. Most of the others, especially Chopper, Nami, and Franky, believe it to be much worse than Zoro's rivalry with Sanji. No matter what the two wouldn't get along and when they did, it didn't last long. They were too much alike.

"My turn!" Brook cheered, taking a straw from Nami's hands. His jaw dropped when it turned out shorter than the ones Zoro and Chas got.

"Better luck next time, Skulls," Chas said, nudging Brook in his ribcage.

"Chopper, Sanji, you guys are next," Nami said.

Chopper closed his eyes and picked a straw after Sanji had already gotten his. When Chopper pulled out the straw, he opened his eyes and smiled. It wasn't a small one, nor was Sanji's. Instead, Chopper got the match to Chas's straw, which he was content about. But, there was the slight problem with Sanji's.

"I demand a redraw…" Zoro and Sanji said, holding up their straws. Matching.

"Sorry, no redoes!" Nami chimed, holding out her hand to Franky and Robin now. Robin and Franky drew their straws. Neither was matching with each other. Instead Franky was paired with Brook and Robin, well, didn't know who her partner was, but she knew she was the one stuck watching the ship.

"SUPER!" Franky said, doing his special move and a small spin added to it.

Nami looked around and grumbled. "Where's Luffy and Usopp?"

"Ran off towards town a few minutes ago," Chas answered, not even looking up from her inspection of her nails.

"AND YOU DIDN'T STOP THEM?!" everyone shouted at her.

"Not my job," Chas said.

Nami sighed and threw out the two straws that were meant for them, and it just happened that the last straw, the one that was for herself, was the one matching Robin's.

"Redraw," Robin and Nami said.

"No redraws," everyone said.

After many apologies, and after Nami had finished her crying about not being able to shop, everyone was ready to head to town to get supplies. They were also ready for the long hunt to find their idiot Captain and the other idiot that was a part of their crew, not knowing what kind of trouble was awaiting them.

* * *

"Excuse me."

The old woman looked up from her shopping to see a young man standing there, looking at her with a kind smile. He seemed tall to her, but she figured he must have at least been half that if she wasn't hunched because of her poor back. He had orange hair that was tide back into a short ponytail and narrow green eyes. He wore a purple bandanna around his left wrist with a ring on his right middle finger. His clothes, other the other hand, stood out a bit more than the rest of him. He had purple shorts which sagged quite a bit and a short sleeved purple and orange flannel that was unbuttoned to show off the tattoo of, what looked like, a pirate skull with shotguns crossing the back, on the right portion of his chest.

"Yes?" the woman said, raising an eyebrow at the boy. She knew he was a pirate, but she couldn't believe that such a young boy, probably no older then seventeen, had already joined a pirate crew.

"Sorry to bother you, Ma'am, but I was hoping you could help me," the boy said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of torn and beaten up paper, showing it to the woman. "Have you seen this person?"

The woman looked to the paper, narrowing her eyes to see it better. It was a wanted poster of a woman with a hat who had a 250,000,000 Beri bounty on her head.

"No, sorry, Kid, I haven't seen her before," the old lady said, shrugging.

The boy sighed and thanked the woman for her help before walking off back down the street, mumbling to himself, "Where could you be, Cap…?" He then turned a street and continued to ask the people he met. Still no one had seen the woman around, but he wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

"Oh, sorry!" the boy said after he bumped into someone. He looked to see who he bumped into only to cower when he meet two dangerous pairs of eyes, a pair from a green haired swordsman and another from a blonde man. He recognized the two, but he couldn't pinpoint where exactly he had seen them, so he had no idea that they were Zoro and Sanji from Straw Hat Luffy's crew.

"Sorry about that, Kid," Sanji said, a small smile coming to his face.

"Its fine," the boy said, smiling. The two men he ran into were about to walk off, until the boy called out to them again. "Wait a minute!" The two turned around and the boy showed them the poster. "Have you seen this woman around here?"

Sanji and Zoro looked at the picture for a moment before shaking their heads.

The boy sighed and stuffed the picture back in his pocket. "Another dead end, huh…?" He then looked up with a bright smile. "Thank you anyway!" He then ran off without another word, leaving Sanji and Zoro wondering what the boy wanted with Chas.


	8. Chapter 8

"This is normal, right?" Chas asked, her eyes noticeably wide when seeing how many plates Luffy cleaned out.

"Yes," everyone at the table said.

Chas didn't ask any more questions about Luffy and his eating habits, but instead she continued to drink her water while she listened to the customers chat among themselves, ignoring most of the things her fellow crew mates were saying. That was until she heard something from Luffy that caught her attention.

"So, some random kid was looking for Chas?" Luffy said with his mouth full of food.

"Apparently," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette. "When we told him we haven't seen her he suddenly looked sad and then left."

"Maybe her was a marine," Usopp said, suspiciously.

"Or maybe he was Chas's long lost brother!" Chopper said. He and Usopp then gasped like they had hit the nail on the head.

"Maybe he was just a jilted lover," Brook suggested with a small, innocent, tilt of his head.

Before Sanji could even give a harsh reply to Brook, Chas had spoken up with a question. "Did he have a tattoo on his chest?" Everyone looked at Chas, surprised.

"Yeah…" Sanji said. "You know who it was, Chas?"

"Hm…" Chas said, looking at the table. She scratched her head a few times before saying anything else. "He's-" Chas was then cut off by a man shouting something about a fight outside. Chas then quickly stood to her feet to go look with the others following, leaving the bill for another time.

* * *

"You bumped into me kid!" the man shouted. This said man was Candi Red, a pirate whose wanted poster was known in the area, and was also known for causing many uproars in town and rob people of their money. He was a tall, buff, fellow with a spiked beard, sideburns, and a bright, red, mullet. He wore a black shirt with brownish-red pants and black shoes. He was a rather…oddly fellow and stood out a fair amount, allowing the Straw Hats to immediately see what the problem was.

"I said sorry, didn't I?" the kid said, struggling to get free of Candi Red's grip on his collar.

"That's the boy we saw earlier," Zoro said, crossing his arms.

"What's he doing getting in a fight with Candi Red?" Sanji questioned.

"You know Candy Red, Sanji?" Luffy questioned.

"I saw his poster earlier, but that's all I know of him."

"Um," Chopper said, tugging on Sanji, "I hate to interrupt, but where did Chas go?"

Sanji and Zoro looked next to them and saw that the place Chas _was _standing was empty. Their jaws dropped and they immediately looked to the fight, only to find Chas walking over to them.

"Hey calm down!" the boy in Candi Red's grip said. "I really don't want to be getting into a fight with you!"

"Oh," Candi Red said, laughing. "The kid doesn't want to get into a fight. Well, that's too bad." Candi was about to throw a punch at the kid, but before he could even make contact with anything, his fist was grabbed in a small hand, keeping him from moving further.

"I'd stop while you still can."

Candi and the boy eyed the woman in front of them, Chas. The boy smiled brightly, tears almost coming to his eyes from the pure joy he was feeling, but Candi on the other hand, well, he wasn't happy with her.

"Out of the way, Girly," Sandi snarled.

Chas narrowed her eyes, causing Candi to flinch a bit. "No." Chas tightened her grip on Candi's fist, causing a few pops and crack to echo. "Now leave before you cause any more trouble." Chas released Candi's fist and the older man soon dropped the boy in his hand and was running off after, shouting about how he saw the devil right before him.

"She really is like Zoro…" Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy mumbled.

"Idiots, she's nothing like me!" Zoro shouted.

"CAPTAIN!" The Straw Hats soon looked at the sudden childish shout and their jaws immediately dropping to see the boy hugging Chas tightly. Her face was paling and slowly turning blue from her lack of oxygen, until she tapped the boy on the shoulder, making him release her.

"Captain?!" Luffy, Usopp, Brook, and Chopper shouted, their eyes popping out of their heads. Well, except for Brook who had no eyes because he's dead.

"I thought you were dead, Cap!" the boy screamed, tears coming to his eyes again as he gripped Chas's jacket. "I couldn't find you anywhere I looked and I really thought you had died with the others! I had almost given up…" The boy looked up at Chas, smiling brightly in spite of his tears. "But then you show up right in front of me, Cap!"

"Wait a minute," Usopp said, breaking up the conversation. He pointed to the boy. "_He's _a part of your crew?!"

Chas bit her lip and refused to look at everyone.

"I thought you said your crew was dead?!" Usopp continued to shout.

"Usopp!" Sanji shouted, smacking Usopp on the back of the head. "Don't be bombarding Chas-san with questions! She's just as confused as the rest of us!" Sanji looked at Chas to see her scratching her head again, something he noticed she did when she was nervous or wondering what to say.

"Chas?" Chopper said. "Who is this?"

The boy looked up and smiled. "Ah, I'm Marco. Everyone calls me Polo though. I'm Captain Chasaji's ship engineer. It's nice to meet you."

Everyone looked at Marco, then to Chas, who shrugged, showing she was just as confused as them. She didn't know how Marco survived, nor how he got to an island so far away from the one she had been wrecked on. But she couldn't possible express how happy she was seeing his face.

"Um," she began, causing Marco to look at her, "how did you get here, Polo?"

Marco looked to Chas and soon lowered his eyes to the ground.

* * *

"When the ship was attacked, I and a few others were thrown into the water," Marco explained, gripping the cup in his hands. The large group was back in the restaurant, listening to the story Marco told everyone. "We were adrift for a few days before getting found by a nearby fishing ship from this harbor. They picked us up and brought us here. After that one of the fishermen let us stay with his family until we were able to hold our own."

"There are others?" Brook questioned, tilting his head to the side.

Marco nodded. "There were six of us all together."

"Who else?" Chas finally said after much silence. It seemed that ever since seeing Marco, she had been silently listening to the others question Marco instead of questioning him herself.

"Porfirio, Coster, Atif, Knud, and Benigno," Marco answered. "We all survived." Marco soon bit his lip and looked like he was hesitating about asking something, before he spoke up. "Where are the others, Cap? I thought they would be with you, but instead…" Marco's words ran off in order to not be rude to Luffy and the others. "And where's the ship? There's no way the Ellis would sink, right? We've fasted worse then a…" Marco went silent when he saw Chas not even looking at him. He knew then that he needed to fear the worse.

Chas took a deep breath and began explaining everything to Marco. "After the ship was attacked I was lucky I even made it to land, Marco. She was beaten, badly. For a while it was me and a few others: Latif, Carmelo, Caddis, Roy, Jolly, Gill,-"

"Nyman?" Marco questioned, eyes wide with hope.

Chas nodded a bit. "Nyman was there too…" Chas took another breath, beginning to play with a cigarette in her fingers because she was too nervous to start smoking it. "After managin' to gather up the rest of the supplies that had survived, along with the Log Book we were holdin', we were attacked an'…" Chas stopped talking for a moment, thinking her next words carefully but only managing to speak the harsh truth. "I was the only one to survive, Marco."

"So…" Marco began. "Nyman is…"

Chas sighed and closed her eyes. "Yeah, Nyman's dead…I buried him along with the rest of them…"

Marco closed his eyes for a moment and didn't look up again.

"Who's Nyman?" Brook questioned, shocking the others.

_He actually asked! _they all thought, having been too frightened to ask themselves.

Chas laughed and looked at them with a small smirk, her usual smirk to show them everything was all right. "Nyman was Marco's older brother…"

Everyone was suddenly silent again, especially Luffy who had the sudden recollection of his own brother. But that mood soon passed when Chas continued talking. "After that, I found Straw Hat and his crew snooping around Ellis. After that Ellis was burned and I found myself apart of Straw Hat's crew." Chas looked at Luffy and smiled, getting a small nod in return along with the usual Luffy grin. "Anyway…" Chas looked back to Marco. "Why are _you _the one runnin' around town askin' questions about me? I would think that Atif would be doing that."

"Yeah, he would have," Marco said, smiling. It seemed that the earlier news hadn't affected him as much as the others thought it would. "But Atif, Knud, and Benigno left a few weeks ago to look for you in other places."

"What about this Coster and Porfirio?" Zoro asked, finally speaking up from his long silence.

"Ah, they left a few days ago to go looking too," Marco answered. "I'm the only one here."

"So," Usopp said, scratching his head, "you've search this entire island for Chas?"

"Yep!" Marco said cheerfully. "I really wanted to find my beloved Captain!"

Zoro chuckled from beside Chas, leaning back in his chair. "'Beloved' he says. That's funny…"

"Shut up, Warabimochi," Chas snarled at Zoro.

Zoro simply glared at Chas, but she only glared right back at him. That was until a rude and annoying voice inturupted.

"Oi, little girl!" Chas looked up to see the big leaning tower of Candi Red standing over her.

"What to you want?" Chas asked, raising an eyebrow at the man.

"I'm here for payback."


	9. Chapter 9

It was pure silence. No movement, no talking, just dead stares. The two hadn't moved ever since they stepped out of the restaurant and began their "Cowboy Standoff". Chas had her hands in her pockets, like this whole thing was a waste of time, while Candi Red held his fists high, ready to punch her at any given moment.

"They're just standing there…" Usopp said.

"It's bee fifteen minutes already," Chopper said.

"No worries," Marco said, smiling to the others, "Captain Chasaji can take this guy out with one hit." There was really no need for him to reassure the Straw Hats, because they already knew the power she possessed.

Candi Red had thrown a punch, but Chas had ducked before anything had grazed her face. Thus, Candi Red toppled forward and fell against the ground, only to stand back up and looked at Chas squarely.

"Are you trying to make a fool out of Candi Red?!" he shouted.

"I think yer makin' a fool out of yerself sir," Chas said, nodding her head at him. Chas was then knocked off her feet by the man, but quickly moved to the side before his foot made contact with her face. She then quickly stood to her feet again.

Candi Red tried punching Chas again, but stopped when a blonde head got in the way. Sanji had suddenly walked into the fight, causing both parties on either side to be startled.

"Get out of the way punk," Candi Red snarled at the man.

Sanji glanced up at Candi Red, not moving from his spot, and narrowed his eyes making the Pirate flinch back a bit. Sanji pushed Chas behind him and soon roundhouse kicked Candi Red right in the jaw, sending the man flying through the air and crashing into the dirt.

"Sorry, but I don't appreciate you picking on a lady for no good reason," Sanji said, puffing out a cloud of smoke from his mouth.

"Nice one, Black Leg," Chas laughed, patting Sanji on the shoulder.

"Oh, anything for you, Chas-san!" Sanji chimed, hearts forming in his eyes.

Chas looked back at Candi Red to see the man still moving around. She sighed and walked over to him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him to his feet. "Next time, think about who you're picking a fight with."

Candi Red just stared at Chas and suddenly felt a thump in his chest when she smiled at him. Chas soon released Candi Red but the man just stood there, staring at her.

"Didn't she say leave?" Sanji snarled, but Candi Red ignored him and walked right up to Chas, taking her hand in his.

"Beautiful!" Candi Red said, gawking at Chas.

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted, jaws dropping and eyes popping out animatedly.

"Excuse me?" Chas said, her expression a mix of disgust and mild confusion.

"You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen," Candi Red said, gripping Chas's hand tighter. "I do apologize for my rudeness earlier, but I hope you could forgive me."

"Wait," Usopp said, "what just happened?"

"I think this Candi freak is in love with Ikasu," Franky clarified, using his new found nickname for her which he found perfect.

Chas was left speechless and really couldn't understand what to say. She really couldn't believe what she was hearing at the moment, especially when two certain words popped out of Candi Red's mouth.

"Marry me," he said, smiling brightly at her. "There is no other woman like you, you're perfect.

"Um…" Chas was at a loss for words, and Luffy's laughter from the sidelines wasn't helping any. Luckily she didn't need to give an answer to Candi Red because the man had been knocked out by a sword and black shoed foot soon after his abrupt confession.

"You're being a pain in the ass," Sanji and Zoro snarled at the unconscious man.

"Maybe we should get out of here before that guy wakes up," Brook said.

"Good idea," Usopp answered. He looked to Luffy for confirmation, only to see his Captain on the ground laughing hysterically. Just to get him to stop laughing, Franky had to pick him up and carrying him back to the ship, still laughing.

* * *

"You're leaving already?" Marco asked, looking rather hurt to hear from Chas that she was leaving with the Straw Hats.

"Yeah, Marco," Chas said, nodding. She looked back over her shoulder to deck only to see all her new friends looking at her and her new foolish captain looking down at her with a grin.

"But I just found you again," Marco said, his voice cracking. "Do you really need to leave?" Chas looked back at Marco, no smile and sympathy in her eyes from what Marco could see. Marco gritted his teeth and decided to speak his mind, truthfully. "Stay here!"

Chas's eyes widened at how straight forward Marco was being with her.

"Please stay here!" Marco shouted. "We could get a ship and go find the others! Then we can start up the Shotgun Pirates again! What do ya say, Cap? Good idea?" Marco's enthusiasm suddenly began dwindling when he saw the straight expression Chas gave him. He feared her answer and didn't want to hear it. He wanted her to stay, be his Captain again, but…

"Sorry, Marco," Chas said, patting him on the head. "But I'm not a captain anymore. I promised to be somewhere and I intend on staying there."

Marco looked to the ground, tears beginning to fall from his eyes when her hand left his head and she began walking away. Marco suddenly looked up, just as she was making her way back to deck. He took a deep breath and shouted to her, "I'll never forget you, Cap!"

Chas stopped walking and looked back over her shoulder to Marco.

"You'll _always _be the greatest Captain I've ever known," Marco said, saluting.

Chas smirked and soon replied. "I'm the only captain you've ever known, Marco." Chas then turned her back to Marco, giving him a small wave before reaching the deck.

* * *

"CHAS!" Nami called from deck. "Dinner's ready!"

"Ah, I'm not hungry!" Chas called from the crow's nest.

Nami put her hands on her hips and sighed. She had a feeling there was no way of making Chas come down and eat, even though she knew Chas needed to eat something before taking that night's watch. Even so, Nami, hesitatingly, went back to join the others.

"Where's Teaspoon?" Luffy asked, stuffing his face with the food Sanji had prepared.

"She said she's not hungry," Nami sighed, taking a seat next to Robin.

"She's been a bit distance since we left port," Usopp said. "You think she's still thinking about Polo and the others?"

"Of course she's thinking about them," Sanji said, pulling his cigarette out of his mouth and tossing it into an ashtray. "She believed her crew was dead and then she suddenly learns that a few are still alive and looking for her."

"On top of that," Franky said, "she just left the only person who has any clue about the other crew member's whereabouts."

"If she wanted to stay with Polo, why didn't she?" Luffy asked.

Everyone stared at him for a moment, just trying to think of what exactly _he _was thinking. He was the one that asked Chas to join his crew, he was one of the ones hugging her for _not _leaving.

"Luffy," Nami said, "why did you ask Chas to join us?"

"Teaspoon?" Luffy questioned. He thought for a moment. "She just seemed really cool."

"That's the only reason?!" Usopp and Chopper shouted from beside Luffy.

"Pretty much," Luffy said, taking another bite of meat.

"So, you wouldn't have gotten mad if Chas-san had left?" Brook questioned.

Luffy shook his head. "If she wanted to leave, she could have. I wouldn't stop her from making that choice."

"I think I would have missed Chas if she left," Chopper said, looking to his hands. "I mean, I know it's only been a short time since she joined, but it feels like she's a part of the crew already."

"It's true," Usopp said. "She might get on my nerves sometimes, but she's really intelligent with weaponry."

"She is a walking weapon herself," Robin laughed.

"She also has a great figure," Brook said with Franky nodding next to him. That was before both were hit on the head by Nami.

"I think it's just good to get another woman around," Nami said, dusting her hands off and sitting back down in her seat.

"I do agree," Robin said, smiling. "We can finally have womanly chats."

"Not that we don't already have them," Nami laughed.

"Womanly chats?" Sanji repeated, his nose starting to bleed from his imagination running wild.

Soon everyone was laughing among themselves and enjoying themselves. They continued to say things that they enjoyed about Chas and continued to ponder the mere thought of why Chas hadn't left with Marco. Even so, the group didn't care at the moment and simply enjoyed the fact that she was still around.

"Where are you going, Zoro?" Nami asked, watching as the green haired swordsman walked out.

"Getting some fresh air," Zoro replied, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Chas sighed and crumpled the letter she was holding in her hands. She had received it from Marco before leaving. Marco had stated that it was a letter from the others. He was told to give it to her if he had found her before they did.

Chas had read it over about three times already and the same words had hit her hard. They were somewhere out there, somewhere on the Grand Line. The only clues she had gather was that they had all parted ways. The only person she knew the exact location to was Knud who was at a place called the Pirates Cuff. Of course she wished she could find him, see that he was all right, but Chas knew it wasn't her place to tell the ship where to go.

"I wouldn't think you were one for sulking. Maybe you are a girl after all."

Chas jumped and quickly turned around, only to find Zoro right behind her.

"What the hell are you doing here, Warabimochi?" Chas sighed, looking back to the letter.

"Is there a rule that says I can't stand here, _Dango?" _Chas flinched at his words, and Zoro noticed. "What's in your hands?"

"Haven't seen a letter before, Marimo?" Chas snarled at him.

Zoro was silently glaring at her and Chas glared right back, but she soon lost all interest and looked away.

"Why'd you turn him down?" Zoro asked nonchalantly.

"Excuse me?" Chas said, looking at Zoro when he sat down next to her.

"If you're this broken up about leaving that brat, maybe you should have stayed," Zoro said, smirking slightly. "Lord knows the brat needs you more than we do."

Chas knew what Zoro was trying to do, and it wasn't working for her, so she kept silent.

"I'll take the silence as I'm right," Zoro said, putting his arms behind his head and leaning back.

Chas sighed. "Ya know…" Zoro looked at Chas only to see her shredding the letter into little pieces. "After my crew was brutally killed, I had a lot of time to think. I realized that I was tired of playing the captain role." Chas soon threw the paper up into the air and it flew off into the distance.

"I'm just going to say this once," Zoro said. Chas looked at him and saw him holding out his bottle of sake towards her. "You made the right choice."

"Aw," Chas said, smirking, "thanks, Warabimochi."

Zoro's eye twitched at the nickname and before Chas could take the bottle in his hand, he pulled back. "Scratch that. Maybe I should just throw you over board right now, _Anmitsu_. I'd be doing _everyone _a favor."

"What'd you call me?!" Chas shouted.

"You heard me," Zoro said, returning her glare, "_Dorayaki_."

Soon, their normal fighting had broken out and thus everything was back to normal on deck of the Thousand Sunny.


	10. Chapter 10

Chas darted her eyes back and forth from Franky, to Brook, to Usopp and then back to the cards in her hands that was hiding her smile from the others. There was no way anyone was going to win after she laid down these cards.

"So, who's layin' them down first?" Franky said, smirking as he looked at his comrades.

Usopp soon slammed down his cards and smirked confidently, giving out a loud laugh. The others sat up and looked at his cards, jaws dropping and eyes budging from the surprise.

"Suck it, Guys!" Usopp said, laughing. "I've got a straight!"

"How did such an unlucky guy get such a lucky hand?" Franky mumbled.

"I was thinking the same thing," Chas said. She soon looked up and to the others. "All right boys, who's next?"

"I'll go," Brook said, laying down his cards calmly. Once his cards were faced up, he calmly drank his tea and watched the amusing reactions in front of him.

"A FULL HOUSE?!" everyone shouted.

Brook soon was laughing loudly, surprising everyone on deck. But soon, everyone turned to Franky who was laughing even louder and had slammed down his cards, saying, "Read them and weep, Boys!" It was exactly what the others did when they saw the Straight Flush that Franky had been hiding.

"Looks like I win," Franky said, leaning back in his chair and chuckling to himself.

"Hold it, Mr. Cyborg," Chas said smirking. "You forgot about my hand."

"There's no way you're going to win, Chas," Usopp said. "There's no way you have a…" Usopp ran off when he saw Chas's cards, and he couldn't believe it. "A…Five…of a…Kind."

"WHAT?!" Brook and Franky shouted, looking at Chas's cards.

"I win," Chas said, spreading her arms out and laughing.

"How many times does that make it now?" Robin asked from the sidelines.

"Twelve…" Usopp answered, slamming his head against the table, along with Brook and Franky.

"And I was really hoping we would win," Brook cried. "It was one of my dying wishes." Brook suddenly sat up and opened his mouth. "Wait, I'm already dead." He then laughed at his own joke, but no one else laughed along with him.

"What was the bet?" Sanji asked as he watched Chas spin around happily, which was quite uncharacteristic of her.

"She'd strip…" Brook and Franky sighed.

Sanji froze for a moment, thinking the idea over. Pretty soon, he had collapsed to the ground because of a major nosebleed, which didn't surprise most of the crew.

"You guys killed Sanji!" Chopper shouted, running over to the poor chef collapsed on the ground.

"He asked," Brook, Franky, and Usopp said, shrugging.

"You guys couldn't win against her in a simple game of poker?" Zoro asked, yawning as he walked up to the lively group.

"The girl has the luck of a god!" Usopp said, pointing at Chas. "It's impossible to win against her!"

"Sorry, but I don't believe that's the case," Zoro said, rubbing his ear. "It might just because your luck sucks."

"Then why don't we test it, huh?" Chas said, smirking. She placed a hand on her waist and chuckled. "Let's see who has the better luck."

Zoro smirked. "Fine by me."

* * *

"Uh…I don't think this is such a good idea anymore," Usopp said, looking back and forth from Zoro to Chas to Brook. "This is a bit extreme, don't you think?!"

"Its fine," Chas said, "he can't die anyway."

At the moment, Chas and Zoro were getting ready to have their "Battle of Luck", but the game was a bit too much in the minds of the other crew members. Brook had been strapped to a spinning wheel and the object was to shoot at him without actually hitting him. Of course, if you really thought about it, the game was a game of skill, not chance. But Chas thought it was the best way to decided who would win and Zoro agreed, surprisingly.

"Exactly _what _is this going to solve?" Nami asked, crossing her arms.

"It's supposed to see who has the better luck," Robin answered with a smile. "Although, to me it seems they just want to see who has the better skill."

"But they could kill Brook!"

"He's already dead," everyone said. Nami simply sighed and shook her head.

"All right," Zoro said stretching, "I'll go first."

"Why do you get to go first?" Chas snarled. "I have every right to go first."

"I always heard it was 'ladies first', but I didn't know that counted for dango too."

Chas flinched and gritted her teeth, growling loudly. She was furious at him. Chas turned around and looked at the spinning wheel. "Franky!"

Franky smiled. "All right!" Franky placed his hands on the wheel. "SUUUUUUPER SPIN!" He then spun the wheel.

Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy watched rather amazed as the wheel spun at a speed that could hardly be seen. To them Brook looked like a big black blob.

Zoro held up the pistol he had gotten from Usopp (having kept it from one of the crew's earlier excursions) and pointed it toward the wheel. He waited a moment, watching the wheel spin and spin and spin continuously before firing. One after another the bullets hit the wheel and each one had missed Brook, to his relief. As soon as Zoro stopped firing his five rounds, he tossed Chas the pistol and sat down on the steps. He placed his hands behind his head and laid down with the utmost confidence he was going to win.

The wheel soon stopped spinning and Brook was right up again, head spinning.

"You alright, Brook?" Franky asked.

"That was…" Brook began to answer. "AWESOME!" Brook then began laughing. That very, very, annoying laugh echoing through the air, making the others begin to laugh when they knew he enjoyed such torture.

Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper looked to the wheel and gasped. All the bullet holes were near Brook's head, but all had managed to miss. The three couldn't believe that it was actually possible.

"So…cool!" the three said.

"Big deal!" Chas said, shrugging. She then crossed her arms stubbornly and pouted. "So he can shoot straight, it's not that big of a deal!" Chas looked to Franky. "Franky, start the second spin!"

"OK!" Franky replied, putting his hands on the wheel and spinning it again, making Brook laugh joyously.

Chas held up her finger, now in the form of a pistol and fired her five rounds. When she was done, Brook was still spinning in circles.

"How hard did you spin it?!" Nami shouted.

Franky shrugged. He then reached out and grabbed the wheel, stopping it abruptly, which in turn made Brook fly out of the braces and land flat on deck.

Chas couldn't believe what she was seeing in front of her, she couldn't. How was it that this could happen? Never, _never, _has she missed a target, until now. She hadn't hit any part of the board Brook had been strapped to, instead she had hit all the braces that had locked him in place. Although, that was only four, so where did the last bullet go?

"Better luck next time, Dango," Zoro said chuckling as he patted her shoulder.

"Aw," Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper sighed, "we were hoping Zoro would lose…"

"WHAT?!" Zoro said, shocked.

Chas gritted her teeth and soon grabbed Zoro by the collar, pulling him down to her height, because sadly he was much taller than her. "I demand a rematch!"

"That's not going to change anything," Zoro laughed.

Chas pulled him closer, her glare making him got stiff. "I. Demand. A. Rematch."

Soon everyone was silent when the sound of a cannon firing rang through their ears and a giant splash rocked the ship. Everyone's attention went away from Zoro and Chas, and they all soon ran to the left side of the ship and were all surprised to see a Marine ship heading straight for them.

"That rematch is going to have to wait," Franky said.

"I agree…" Chas said, eyes wide as she watched the Marine vessel get closer and closer.

* * *

**Hey guys, I know this is a shorter chapter than normal, but I have a hurt wrist and need to rest because writing these chapters to not keep you guys waiting long is getting it irritated, which in turn gives me a bad mood, which in turn gets me yelled at. So for, I think the rest of the week (or at least a few days), there will be no new chapters. And I know I left you a cliffy, but don't worry about it because everything will be figured out when I get back. Sorry for the inconvenience guys. Hope you enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, I realized that I forgot to mention something, this story takes place AFTER episode 574 (chapter 654) and just before 579 (chapter 655) which is the Punk Hazard Arc.**

* * *

"Should we make a run for it?" Usopp questioned, looking to his comrades.

Chas covered her ears as another cannon ball landed near the ship, making a load explosion that shook the ship. "Even if we run they'll only follow us and we'll have to deal with them again!"

"In other words," Zoro said, smirking as he cracked his knuckles, "it's better to deal with them now than in the future."

"I agree," Robin said, crossing her arms. "We wouldn't want to run into them again."

"Then it's settled," Luffy said, smirking as he popped his knuckles. He then turned towards the Marine ships behind them and slung his arm out, smiling happily. "Gomu Gomu no…" He grabbed Chas, who was fairly confused as to what was happening, until Luffy shouted cheerfully: "SLINGSHOT!" Thus, Chas quickly grabbed Zoro, the only thing close enough to grab, and dragged him along as the three shot through the air onto the marines' ship.

"It's Straw Hat Luffy and Roronoa Zoro!" a marine shouted franticly.

"Shotgun Chasaji is here too!" another shouted, as Chas stood to her feet after her recovery from getting flung through the air. "She's supposed to be dead!"

"When did she join the Straw Hats?!" The marines were left unanswered as Chas turned to Luffy.

"Don't _ever _do that again!" Chas shouted.

Luffy simply laughed at Chas and that seemed to be the only answer he gave Chas.

"I have dibs on the middle," Luffy said, smiling. He looked like a tiger about to pounce his pray from the way he was standing.

Zoro took out his swords and smiled too. "I'll have the left side."

Chas sighed. "Guess that means I go right…" Chas looked to the marines on her right and smiled. She, and the two men, were soon fighting all the marines on their given side, sending one after the other overboard or unconscious on deck.

As Chas was knocking over her twelfth, or more, marine, when she suddenly noticed another marine vessel approaching on her side. She side and shouted out to the others. "Seems we have more coming!"

"There's more on this side too," Zoro said.

Luffy laughed. "I can leave it to you guys, right?"

Zoro and Chas chuckled and smirked towards their Captain. "Even have to ask?" The two quickly ran across deck and jumped onto the two ships that were threatening to join the previous ship.

Luffy defeated every marine, even the extras he was left with on deck, and the others helped keep them from getting help. Luffy had quickly defeated his group of marines by swiping them all off deck. When the deck was clear he took a deep breath and sat down, watching Zoro and Chas fight.

Chas whipped her forehead and sighed, finally getting a break from all the punching she had been doing. She looked to the marines who were still standing in front of her. She laughed at them and their frightened expressions.

"Who's next out of ya all?" she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Quit playing around and just finish them already," Zoro sighed. He had defeated all his enemies already, which just pissed Chas off for him finishing before herself.

"Yeah, Teaspoon, I'm hungry!" Luffy complained.

"Oh shut up!" Chas snapped. She then sighed once again and looked back to the marines, cracking her knuckles and stepping towards the large group. "All right, let's get this over with…"

* * *

Once the three were finish, they stood at the back of the boat watching the marine vessels get farther and farther as the Thousand Sunny continued its sailing.

"Should we really just leave them there like that?" Usopp asked, leaning against the railing.

Chas smirked, and laughed to herself. "I have a better idea."

Everyone looked to their side, towards Chas, and was surprised to see she had changed her hands into a Bazooka, pointing it right at the marine ships.

"W-Wait a minute," Zoro said, reaching out a hand to stop her.

"C-Chas, that's not-"

Chas stopped listening and focused on her aim. "Kaki Kaki no"-when the aim was just right, she smirked and said the final word, sending the rocket off-"Bazooka!"

The rocket flew through the air at an amazing speed, and rather loudly at that making everyone cover their ears.

"What the heck is going on out here?!" Sanji shouted, running outside to see what the big ruckus was. Then he laid eyes on the burning marine ship in the distance, which soon exploded.

Brook, Franky, and Chopper clapped their hands together, 'oh'ing and 'ah'ing at the marvelous array of lights the ship was giving off. Luffy joined them in their excitement, laughing until his sides hurt. The others, on the other hand, didn't join in. They could only stare at the large blazing lights in front of them.

Soon, all laughing and amazement turned to horror as the ship exploded another time, larger and more fearsome this time around, sending scarps everywhere. After that ship blew, the next blew up and then the next, until all three were burning bright and filling the sky with their smoke.

Luffy was once again laughing, sides aching and body rolling on the ground.

"I only meant to hit one…" Chas said, nervously trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. Then she finally noticed the sail with the marine base name on it. _Crap…he's not going to be too happy… _she thought, imagining the face of the Vice Admiral will have when he gets word of his ships being blown to pieces.

"What did you expect with all that gunpowder?!" everyone shouted at her, except from Brook, Franky, and Chopper who continued to clap at the wonderful display. Robin also stayed silent, laughing at the amusing argument in front of her.

* * *

**_Next Day: Somewhere on the open sea..._**

"Sir!" Tashigi said, running into the smoke filled navigation room. "Have you-"

"Yeah, I've seen it…" Smoker grumbled, clinching the paper in his hands. The words on the paper annoyed him beyond belief: _"Straw Hat Pirates Destroy Three Marine Vessels". _"At least we know where they're going now. Prepare to go after them, Tashigi."

"Right!" Tashigi said, saluting. "But there's something else you should know, Sir."

Smoker looked back over his shoulder, puffing out smoke from his mouth as he did so. He looked at Tashigi and saw the poster she was holding, only to show a hint of what seemed to be shock. He couldn't believe the face he saw on the poster, he really couldn't.

"It seems that Straw Hat Luffy has gotten a new crew member," Tashigi said, placing the wanted poster in Smokers outstretched hand. "They call her 'Shotgun Chasaji'."

Smoker chuckled, amused with the ironic situation. "Shotgun Chasaji, huh? Never expected…"

"You know her sir?" Tashigi said, looking a bit surprised.

Smoker didn't answer, he just continued smiling at the poster. His smile wasn't that of a proud father or what not, but that of determination to catch the criminal.

"Sir?" Smoker looked at Tashigi. "Would you mind explaining who she is?"

"You've never heard of her, huh?" Smoker said. He sighed and leaned forward, placing the poster on his desk. "Chasaji is Captain of the Shotgun Pirates… They had sailed the Grand Line twice and have broken out of two of the most heavily guarded marine bases in the past five years that they have been known."

"How come this is my first time hearing of them?" Tashigi asked.

Smoker took a deep breath and released it. "Because about a year ago they disappeared. Rumor had it that they were going after a Legendary Treasure hidden somewhere in the New World and had died at sea. After that, they were quickly forgotten about." Smoker snickered, grinding the leftover cigars from his mouth onto the wanted poster before standing and lighting two more. "But I always had a feeling she was still alive…" Smoker walked past Tashigi, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Tashigi, let's go."

"R-Right…" Tashigi said.

Smoker quietly smiled to himself as he enthusiast walked down the hall with Tashigi, thinking to himself, _Be seeing you soon, Bouzu…_

* * *

**_Somewhere else in the same sea..._**

"You can do it, Chas!" Chopper cheered along with Luffy and Usopp.

Chas tried her best to push herself back up. She only needed one more. One more and she'd be done with the terrible and painful training.

"Nine Thousand Ninety-nine!" Usopp counted, watching as Chas desperately tried pushing her body, and weights, off the ground.

_Come on, Chas, _Chas thought, _you can do it! One more and you'll be able to kick Zoro's ass into the sea! _Chas froze for a moment, feeling her nose start to slowly itch. It twitched and began to irritate her into not focusing on the weights anymore. _Not now…please not now… _Then she sneezed, making her face hit the ground and dig deeper and deeper as each weight fell on her.

Zoro laughed from his spot on the stairs. "Looks like you have to start over."

"Shut up…" Chas mumbled in the grass.

"Chas?" Luffy called after a few minutes when he saw Chas wasn't getting up. Chas didn't move even when he called. "Chas?!" She still didn't move.

"She's dead!" Usopp shouted, jumping to the conclusion.

"Zoro killed Chas!" Chopper cried, making everyone looked at Zoro (who looked quite worried about the accusation). "You heartless ba-"

"I'M NOT DEAD DAMNIT!" Chas shouted as she poked her head up out of the grass.

Chopper ran over to Chas and hugged her head. Chopper was then hugged by Luffy, then hugged by Usopp.

"Thank god you're alive!" they said, crying tears of joy.

"Uh…" Chas tried moving, but still found herself trapped under weights. "Can someone get me out from under these…?"

It took all three of them to get one weight off of Chase, but that still left three more on her. The three boys tried their best to get the weights off and had managed to do so, only to tire themselves out.

Nami looked back over her shoulder, seeing the trouble going on behind her. "Chas, why don't you go take a bath? You're all sweaty from that difficult work out, and I'm sure it'll help with those sore muscles."

Chas stood to her feet, popping her shoulders. "I guess yer right. Thanks Nami!" Chas then walked away without another word.

* * *

"Where's Chas?" Robin questioned when she saw everyone gather at the table for dinner but the red head wasn't present.

"She's taking a bath," Luffy answered, already stuffing his face.

"Oi!" Sanji shouted, hitting Luffy on the back of the head. "I told you not to eat until Chas-san was here!"

"But I'm hungry!" Luffy complained.

"I don't care!"

"Maybe we should go check on her…" Chopper suggested, looking to Nami. "She was pretty tired from the _training _Zoro was putting her through."

Everyone narrowed their eyes at the swordsman, making him freeze in place. "It's not my fault she couldn't handle it."

"Yes it is!" Usopp shouted. "We should at least check on her to see if she's all right!"

"Fine!" Zoro said, standing to his feet. "I'll go check on her." Zoro then walked out before anyone could process what he had fully said. When they finally did, they quickly ran after him, trying to get him to stop.

* * *

"Oi, Manju!" Zoro said, pounding on the door to the bath. "You in there?" There was silence from the other side. "Oi!" Still silence. "You all right, Manju?" There was still no answer, and Zoro began getting a bit worried about whether she was dead or not. Of course he knew that she wouldn't have died from such a simple exercise, but there was the possibility she had fallen asleep or with her being a devil fruit user, drowned in the water.

"I'm coming in!" Zoro said, turning the knob and opening the door slightly, only to be tackled second later by Sanji, Usopp, Luffy, Brook, and Chopper.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Marimo?!" Sanji shouted. He was about to shout at him again until he realized that the door was fully open and Chas was standing in front of them, back turned as she was slipping on a clean shirt.

Chas looked back over her shoulder, which held her trademarked tattoo from her previous crew, and saw the boys laying in the doorway, wide-eyed and pink faced.

"What do you guys think yer doin'?" Chas growled, slipping on her shirt and looking at them, face full of rage.

"We thought you collapsed…" they answered, except Sanji who was unable to answer due to his…well…perverted tendencies.

Chas's eye twitched and she soon pointed her hands at the boys, only to have them form into a machinegun. "Get. Out. Now."

The boys quickly got up onto their feet, grabbing Sanji, and leaving before Chas was able to puncture each and every one of them with bullets.

* * *

**Hey everyone, so my wrist was feeling a bit better, so, I wrote this. I do hope you enjoyed and thank you for wishing me to feel better. Although, my wrist is still hurting and it might be a few days before the next update. I do hope you all can wait.**

**I also realized that I never fully explained the language in which I sometimes use, so I'm going to explain it now.**

_**Kaki means 'firearm' which is kind of obvious by Chas's devil fruit abilities. Like I said earlier, it's very similar to Baby 5's abilities, but also very different (you'll see in future chapters)**_

_**Most of the nicknames Zoro calls Chas either have to do with something fat and squishy, or has red bean paste in it (because of her hair). The nickname changes every now and then since there are so many things to call her. But Luffy's nickname for her will never change.**_

_**Bouzu is sort of like 'squirt'. It's an honorific, but the way Smoker used it wasn't, it was just a nickname.**_

**I hope that explains everything. Thank you for reading!**

**I look forward to hearing your thoughts! (Please) Thank you for the support!**


	12. Chapter 12

"How did this happen?!" Nami shouted at Chas.

Chas scratched her head and laughed nervously, not giving an answer other than that. At the moment she had her arm stuck in a piece of armor she had found on the docks the crew was currently parked on. From what she had mention, it was all an accident, but it was hard to believe Chas would be that careless.

"Any ideas how to get it off?" Franky asked, looking over Chas's arm.

Everyone thought for a moment until Zoro spoke up.

"Why not just cut it off?" Zoro suggested with a serious face.

Everyone looked at Zoro blankly, wondering if his head was screwed on all the way. But Usopp knew Zoro was being fully serious from the main times he had gotten stuck into something and it ended with a sharp object.

"If we cut her arm off, we can get her unstuck," Zoro continued. "Then Chopper could just sew her right up again."

"I can't sew severed arms!" Chopper shouted at the green-haired swordsman.

"Why don't we just pull?" Brook suggested. Everyone looked at Brook like he was the smartest person in the world.

* * *

"I don't know how I feel about this, guys," Chas said.

"On the count of three we'll pull," Nami said, ignoring Chas's objections as she peeked around Sanji (who was in complete heaven being in between Nami and Chas). Behind Nami was Robin, then Usopp, Brook, Zoro, Chopper (who had grown to be helpful), and then Luffy who wrapped his arms around everyone to make sure they didn't break apart.

"All right," Franky said, gripping Chas's arm and getting ready to pull from the other end. "One."

"Two," Nami said, getting ready to pull.

"THREE!" Luffy shouted, pulling along with everyone else. Sadly, no matter how much they pulled, the armor wouldn't come off of Chas. It was as if it had latched onto her somehow.

"OW!" Chas shouted, feeling as if her arm was about to pop out of its socket at any point now. At that scream, everyone behind her let go and Chas was sent flying across deck and over the railing, landing right on the docks (head first).

"Chas!" Chopper shouted, turning small and quickly rushing over to his friend. "Are you all right?" Chopper looked down at the woman as she blinked a few times.

"Fine…" Chas groaned, tilting her head back to see multiple Chopper's standing above her. "Since when were there so many of ya, Doc?"

"CHAS!" Chopper cried, grabbing Chas and shaking her. "Don't die on me!" He continued to shake her, but that just made her even dizzier.

"S-Stop that, Chopper!" Usopp said, quickly pulling Chopper away before he actually killed her. He then looked down to Chas, seeing the girl just lying there on the deck.

"Well, I'm out of ideas…" Brook said, crossing his arms.

"AHH!"

The Straw Hats looked up and noticed a frightened looking old man staring at Chas, pointing to the armor on her arm.

"W-W-Where did you find that?!" the old man shouted at her.

Chas rubbed her head, sitting up. She looked to her arm, then to the old man. "I found it lying on deck. It yours, Old Man?"

The old man franticly shook his head. "No, no, I wouldn't dare keep such a thing!" The old man crossed his arms, as if fending off some evil. "J-Just keep that thing away from me! I-If I were you I would get rid of it as fast as you can!"

"Why?" Sanji asked as he walked up into the conversation along with the others.

The old man's jaw dropped and he stared at the pirates blankly. "You mean you don't know?" The old man pointed at Chas. "That armor is the cursed armor of Matej Torok! It's said whoever wears a piece of that armor will forever be stuck with it and have their life constantly in danger until death befalls them!"

Chas rubbed her head with the arm that had the armor attached to it and stared at the old man. "All right…so?"

"So?!" the old man shouted. "Aren't you scared?!"

"Not really…" Chas shrugged.

"It's not like our first time hearing that either…" Zoro said, scratching his head.

The old man snarled at them and shook his fist at the pirates. "I warned you! But if you die because of it, don't blame me!" The old man then walked off, leaving the Straw Hats stunned and partially confused.

"So…I'm cursed now?" Chas questioned, looking to the others.

"Seems that way…" everyone answered.

* * *

**_In town:_**

"I don't care how long it takes, find those Straw Hat pirates!" Smoker shouted at his men. Soon, each and every one of them were off running in different directions. Once all of them were gone, Smoker turned back to Tashigi and nodded towards town. "Come on, Tashigi, we're going."

"R-Right!" Tashigi said, still not fully sure why Smoker was intending on finding them right away. She also got the strange feeling that Smoker wasn't telling her something about Shotgun Chasaji, but she also knew that Smoker kept things from her most of the time. Strangely, this time was different.

"Sir?" Tashigi said, making Smoker look back at her as they continued to walk down the streets. "Have you met Shotgun Chasaji before?"

Smoker chuckled. "I guess you can say I have."

Tashigi bit her lip. That wasn't a full 'yes' nor a full 'no'. One thing she knew for sure, there was more to finding Shotgun Chasaji then just capturing a pirate.

* * *

Chas whistled as she walked down the street, fully ignoring the fact that she had gotten split from Chopper and Usopp who were supposed to be helping her find a way to get the armor on her right arm off. So far, they had tried everything they had found: Slug slim, water and soap (which didn't go well from Chas or Chopper), they even tried a secret recipe a general store owner told them to use. Nothing helped.

Chas rounded a corner and immediately froze in her spot. Her eyes widened when she saw that familiar white hair; marine jacket; and _very_ angry looking eyes behind sunglasses. Chas never expected to see Smoker standing right in front of her, especially after their meeting and parting years ago.

_How did things end up this way…? _Chas questioned herself, before finally getting the guts and running away, with Smoker quickly following behind her. She knew there was no way she could outrun the man, but she could surely try.

Chas turned corner after corner, but Smoker still followed close behind. Chas was about to give up hope of ever outrunning the old man, until she saw Usopp and Chopper walking down the street in front of her, looking around for, no doubt, her.

"USOPP! CHOPPER!" Chas shouted.

Usopp and Chopper stopped walking and looked back over their shoulders, only to be bypassed by both Chas and Smoker (who seemed to only care about catching Chas at the moment).

"Was that Chas?" Usopp questioned.

"And Smoker…" Chopper said.

The two looked at each other for a moment, only to quickly realize how much trouble they were in. They quickly ran into the shop and shouted for the others. "GUYS WE HAVE TROUBLE!"

Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Robin, Brook, and Luffy turned around, only to drop whatever they were doing to see Chas running by again with Smoker right behind her. The group quickly ran out of the shop.

"Quit running like a coward!" Smoker shouted at Chas. He stopped running after her and soon attacked with White Snake to try and capture her before she could continue foolishly running around. But as expected, Chas dodged it time and time again. "I let you get away once, Bouzu, I'm not letting that happen this time!"

The others continued to stand there, just wondering what exactly what was going on. They confused beyond belief. They also couldn't understand why Smoker was only going after Chas.

"Quit moving around!" Smoker shouted, making himself turn into smoke and launching himself at Chas, who quickly moved away once again. "Stop being so scared and face it like a man!"

"Last time I checked, I wasn't male!" Chas countered. The others noticed how informal her speech was with the man, along with how he had a special name for her, which made them wonder just how the two knew each other. "And I would stop moving if you just"- Chas jumped, dodging another attack from Smoker. Having jumped up right in front of him, she raised her right hand and landed a punch right in his face-"stop attacking!"

Chas landed on her feet and stared wide eyed at what she just did. Chas couldn't believe she just punched him without a care. Last time she did that, it didn't end so well for her, which made her wonder what was going to happen this time.

The Straw Hats pirates, standing behind her, also looked quite surprised that she could land a punch on the man. Never once did she give the idea she could use Haki.

"I see you've learn how to use Haki," Smoker said, giving a small laugh as he stood to his feet. He looked at Chas, biting down on his cigars. "What the hell is on your arm, Bouzu?"

"Long story…" Chas said, narrowing her eyes at the man. "Why are you here, Smokey?"

_Smokey?! _the others thought, all cocking an eyebrow.

"That's a pretty stupid question to ask," Smoker said. He charged at her again, trying to grab her with his smoke, but she dodged again and made a break for it, only to have him follow close behind. "Quit running like a coward!"

"Stop telling me what to do, Old Man!" Chas snapped. She rounded a corner and quickly hid behind a few crates. She sighed, finally getting a break and being able to like that cigarette she had been wanting for some time now.

"You've always been terrible at hiding."

Chas looked up and froze when she saw Smoker right behind her. She quickly moved away before his smoke could smash down on her.

"Chas, quit running around!" Usopp shouted. "We don't have time for this!"

Chas continued to run, shaking her head and actually looking quite frightened at the idea. "I'm not risking it!"

"Just fight and get this over with!" Smoker shouted at her. "Or maybe you're just giving up like you've always done, Fuatari!"

Chas stopped running and slowly looked back over her shoulder, making a shiver run down everyone's spine. "What did you call me?"

"You heard me."

Chas fully turned around and faced Smoker, eyes narrowed angrily and a dark shadow cast over her, which frightened her crew behind boxes. "Never." Chas took a few steps forward, her eyes narrowing even more. "Never call me a failure, Old Man!" Chas gritted her teeth before raising her arm and shouting at the top of her lungs, "Kaki Kaki no Bazooka!"

Smoker's eyes noticeably widened when he saw Chas's right arm change into a bazooka. She pointed it right at him and fired without a second thought.

The Straw Hats ducked behind the boxes and covered their ears, just as the explosion sounded and threw a shock wave at them. When the shock wave had passed, the group peeked out from behind the boxes, only for Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper to be in awe at the gold bazooka resting on Chas's shoulder.

"AMAZING!" the three shouted with a cheer.

"So the armor changes with her…" Robin said, putting a hand to her chin. Before she could even continue talking, Chas's shouting interrupted.

"Get out here, Old Man!" Chas screamed. "I know you're still there!" As if on cue, Smoker stepped out, reforming from the smoke, and stood in front of Chas for a moment without attacking her. Chas looked up at him, doing the same and they just stood there, staring at each other. That was until the two started talking again, well…more of bickered like a father and daughter would.

"Get that damn thing out of your mouth," Smoker said, nodding towards the cigarette in Chas's mouth.

"No," Chas said, crossing her arms.

Smoker grabbed Chas's cheeks and pulled on them. "Quit being so snotty and do what you're told!"

"Maybe I'll start listening if you stopped trying to capture me every time we see each other, Ojiki!" Chas shouted, punching Smoker away from her.

The Straws Hats immediately froze until they all shouted, "HE'S YOUR UNCLE?!"

* * *

**Remember to leave your opinions! See ya next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?!" Usopp, Nami, Chopper, and Zoro shouted at Chas. At the moment they were all hiding in an abandoned home from Smoker and his fleet of marines. Luckily for them Luffy had punched Smoker when things had gotten out of hand between him and Chas, letting them get away luckily. But with the marines around every corner, the group couldn't get back to the ship unnoticed.

"No one asked!" Chas shouted back, just louder than the whisper the others were using, thus her mouth was quickly covered by multiple hands from Robin.

"Quit yelling at her!" Sanji demanded, knocking the boys on the head. "She had no obligation of telling us anything! Do you really expect her to tell us something so private?"

"I would have said something if it mattered," Chas said, looking at them all. She released herself from Nami's grip on her collar and sat down on the ground, crossing her legs and sighing. "The man's a pain in the ass. Always has, always will be." Chas clicked her tongue, going through her past memories. "When I first got my bounty, he was the first one out at sea chasing me; when I first got arrested, he was the first to come and tell me how much of a disgrace I am; when I first left for the Grand Line, he could have cared less."

Chas rested her head on her hand, looking to her side in annoyance. "I was raised in a family of marines. I know how they act; I know how they fight; I know exactly how they view the world around them." Chas scratched her head, taking a deep breath to calm herself from living the past she left behind. "It's all a pain in ass…" Chas sighed once again and looked at everyone. "So, how do we get out of here? Walk straight out or do one of ya have a plan?"

Everyone looked at each other, wondering if they should answer her question or ask her questions instead. Usopp was the first to break the ice for the idea.

"I might have an idea," Usopp said, smiling, "but it's risky."

"Straw Hats are all about risky," Nami said, smiling with a light laugh.

Usopp then continued onwards to explain his plan, which the others found…well…rather risky like he had suggested.

* * *

"This fake mustache is great!" Luffy chimed, poking at the fake mustache on Sanji's face.

"I'm just happy I had it on hand," Usopp said, confidently.

Sanji scowled as he straightened the overalls him and the others had found in the abandoned wagon out back. He then slapped Luffy's hand away from him before turning back to Usopp. "I really don't see how this is going to work, Usopp."

Usopp crossed his arms and smirked. "There's no way they'll know! You and Chas are going to pose as traveling merchants and pull the chart, with us hiding in it, along the street until we reach port. Once we get to the port we're scot free!"

"I still agree with Black Leg," Chas said, straightening the dress Nami and Robin had made her out of the old rags laying around. "There's _no way _they won't suspect this."

"There is one problem with this plan," Brook said, pointing at Chas's arm. "Wouldn't the marines notice Chas right away with that cursed armor on her arm?"

"That's true…" Chas said, looking at the gold and black designed armor on her arm. "It's pretty un-forgetful… If only…" Chas stopped talking when she suddenly got an idea. She slowly turned around and looked at Chopper. "Oh, Chopper?"

Chopper looked up after hearing Chas sing his name. He turned around and flinched when he saw Chas's dark and mischievous stare. "Y-Yeah?"

* * *

"I hope this works…" Chas mumbled, fiddling with the bandages around her arm to hide the armor. She and Sanji were closely approaching port, pulling along the cart that hid the others inside.

"Let's just hope we can get past them," Sanji said, taking a deep breath.

Chas pulled her hood more over her face, hiding from the many marines she had passed by. Sanji on the other hand, didn't need to worry, because Luffy's straw hat hid most of his face already.

"Hold it!" a marine said, stopping the two from entering the port.

Sanji smiled at the man, kind of nervous, and replied in western accent, "Good day, Sir! What seems to be the problem?"

"I'm going to have to check what's in the cart," the marine said.

Sanji and Chas began panicking as the marine inched closer to the sheet over the cart, about to pull it off.

"Wait!" Chas said in a husky voice. "Are you really going to disgrace the dead like that?"

"D-Dead?" the marine stuttered, causing other marines to come closer and listen.

"Y-Yes," Sanji said. "We're taking these bodies to port so we can send them off to their home towns."

"How'd they die?" another marine asked.

Chas and Sanji looked at each other for a moment, wondering what exactly to say. That's when Chas had the bright idea and began telling it.

"Well," Chas said, with a small cough, "no one knows for sure." Chas smiled under her hood, making the marines flinch. "All anyone knows is that they're bodies suddenly washed up on shore one morning, broken and rooting." Chas put up her bandaged arm, covering part of her mouth, as if telling the marines a secret. "We had to put the sheet over from scaring any of the small children in town. One of them had a so many scars his face wasn't even recognizable. The others seemed like they were screaming for their lives before they died of starvation: they're faces thinned to the bone." Chas smirked. "Take a look if you don't believe me."

"_What is she doing?!" _Usopp whispered to Luffy and the others. _"She knows she can expose us, right?!" _The others simply shrugged.

Brook suddenly lost his balance from all the bickering between everyone and fell back, right when the marines were shakily lifting up the tarp. Everyone's froze when Brook's hand suddenly fell out from under the tarp, making the marines scream at the top of their lungs. They were all shocked.

"Careful, he bites," Chas laughed darkly, showing her arm to the marines.

"J-Just go!" the marines shouted.

Chas smiled brightly and bowed at the marines, then proceeded to lead Sanji down the road to the pier.

"I can't believe that worked…" Chas mumbled.

"That was unbelievable, Chas-san," Sanji said, admiring her great beauty, even if she was terribly fighting in that moment. She had saved them with her quick thinking.

"Yes, that was quite unbelievable."

The two froze, looking back over their shoulders before screaming when they saw Smoker. When the others heard the scream, they all quickly jumped out of the wagon and made a break for the ship with Sanji and Chas following. Sadly, Chas was soon caught by Smoker grabbing her ankle with her smoke and pulling her back.

"Damn it old man!" Chas shouted, struggling in his grip. "Let me go!"

"Not a chance," Smoker replied, putting a pair of Kairoseki cuffs on her, making her unable to use her abilities on him.

"Chas!" Chopper shouted, about to turn back with Luffy and the others, but Chas stopped them.

"No, get to the ship!" Chas shouted. "I'll be fine on my own!"

Sanji quickly grabbed the two and followed Chas's orders along with the rest of them, making their way quickly to the ship. Of course, the marines got in the way, and the group had their own separate battles to face. Tashigi had shown up and ordered to fight Zoro, who simply sighed and rolled his eyes. But it seems that the fight was unnecessary because Usopp soon caught Tashigi in one of his many traps and the group was able to push on.

"You really believe that you'll be all right on your own?" Smoker laughed. "You can even fight with those cuffs on."

"I didn't mention anything about fighting," Chas said. Soon, she was surprised by hearing the familiar, and satisfying voice of her new captain.

"Buso Koka: Gomu Gomu no Bullet!"

Chas turned her head, only to find Luffy rushing past her and punching Smoker straight in the abdomen, sending him flying. Chas was soon released and had been thrown up in the air, only to quickly be caught by Sanji.

"We got to get out of here!" Luffy shouted, running away along with everyone else, dragging a few of them behind him.

After more fighting with marines, and trying to get Smoker off their back, they had finally reached the Thousand Sunny and were able to get away with Franky's quick thinking. Thus, the group were out of sight from the marines for the time being, but they all knew that wasn't going to be the last time they see Smoker.

* * *

**Okay, the ending was kind of abrupt, but this is what happens when i can't think of anything else to right for them. Plus I'm just not good at fighting scenes. Do hope you enjoyed nonetheless.**

**See ya next time!**


	14. Chapter 14

It had been a few days since the incident with Smoker and the Straw Hats pirates had found themselves in calm waters. There was no breeze; no rocking of the ship; and no gentle waves to look at.

Currently they were heading for Esturea, which was an island the journal (which everyone thought was an old Log Post) had told them to go. After countless hours of reading over the book and translating the blurry text, which had been ruined by water, Nami had finally found their heading. Now there was only waiting.

"Chas?" Nami asked as she walked across deck and saw the poor girl leaning over the ship with a bottle of Sherry in his hand. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah," Chas said, not even looking up to the navigator behind her, "I'm fine…"

"Ya sure?" Franky questioned, coming over with Usopp and Chopper in tail. The three had been working on a new project, unknown to everyone on the ship. "You're on your sixth bottle."

"Her sixth?!" Nami shouted. "Shouldn't you be drunk right now?"

"Captains have a high tolerance for alcohol…" Chas answered monotonously as she drew circles with her finger.

"You sure you're all right, Chas?" Chopper asked, placing a hoof of Chas's leg.

Chas looked at Chopper, then to the others behind her. "What yer guys' dreams?"

"What?" everyone asked, cocking their heads.

"I heard from Strawhat that he dreams of becomin' Pirate King," Chas said, playing with her hands. "Then when I was helpin' Black Leg in the kitchen he told me his dream was to find the All Blue…" Chas looked up to the others again. "So, I was wonderin' if ya guys had similar dreams…"

Nami looked to the others, who shrugged, and then she turned back to Chas, smiling. "I have a dream to draw a map of the entire world."

Franky puffed out his chest and said, confidently, "I dream is to create and travel with a dream ship which will experience countless battles! I also hope it will reach the end of the Grand Line."

"I dream of becoming a brave warrior of the sea like my father, Yasopp!" Usopp said, putting his hands on his hips and smiling.

"And what about you, Doc?" Chas said, looking to Chopper.

Chopper smiled brightly and said, "I dream of becoming a doctor that can cure any disease." Chopper then blinked at Chas with his big eyes. "I'm also living one of my dreams right now: being able to travel with such great friends."

Chas simply smiled, before sighing and hanging back over the edge of the ship.

"Why are you asking, Chas?" Usopp asked.

"It's just…" Chas took a deep breath and admitted the truth to them. "It just feels awkward being the only one on this ship without a dream of her own…" Chas looked back to everyone, only to regret every mentioning anything when she saw their faces: shocked.

"That's it?" Nami said. "_That's _what you've been worrying about?!"

Chas nodded, making everyone fall over laughing.

"Stop laughing already!" Chas shouted, standing to her feet, angrily. "I'm dead serious!"

"That's what makes it funny!" Usopp said, holding his stomach as he continued to laugh at Chas.

"If you're so worried"-Chas turned her head to see Robin walking up with a book in hand-"just find a dream of your own."

Chas looked to the ground and nodded. "You're right." She then looked up, full of confidence and eyes shining. "I have to find my own dream!" Chas was about to run off before Franky and Usopp stopped her.

"Wait a minute, Chas!" Usopp said, grabbing her shoulder. "There's something you need to see first."

Chas looked back over her shoulder, titling her head to her side and raising an eyebrow.

* * *

"Uh…this doesn't look very safe…" Chopper said, looking at the large contraption before him. According to Franky and Usopp, it's supposed to pull off that cursed armor stuck to Chas.

"Relax!" Franky said, placing his hands on his hips. "It's ninety-five percent safe!"

"Where's that other five percent?!" Chas screamed, trying to get herself released from the chair she had been strapped to.

"Don't worry," Usopp said, smiling comfortingly. He waved a hand, brushing off Chas's scarceness and pointed back towards a bunch of barrels and scarps of metal that had been torn to shreds. "We've tested this many times already, there's no need to worry!" Usopp looked back to Franky. "All right, start her up!"

"OK!" Franky sat in the chair and started the engine, which in turn started the giant saw placed over Chas's arm. Franky pulled a lever, slowly lowering the saw to Chas's arm.

"THIS IS NOT SAFE!" Chas shouted, trying to get herself free from the straps, but she was completely stuck. She watched, helplessly, as the saw came down on the armor, making sparks as it tried cutting the piece of metal in half.

Soon, Franky's machine stopped and everyone was left astonished. The saw had been trashed beyond repair and the armor on Chas's arm was left unharmed.

"NANI?!" Franky, Usopp, and Chopper shouted.

"How did that not work?!" Usopp shouted at Franky.

"How should I know?!" Franky shouted back.

"Does that really mean I'm stuck with this thing?!" Chas shouted, panicking like the rest of them.

"It sure seems that way, doesn't it?" Robin said, using her extra hands to get Chas out of her bindings. Once Chas was free, she quickly stood to her feet and began pacing around in circles, mumbling to herself over and over again.

"Calm down, Ikasu!" Franky said trying to get Chas to stop her mumbling and pacing. "There must be a way to get it off!"

"R-Right!" Usopp said, trying to calm the girl down also. "We can't give up just yet!"

"Hm…I don't know about that," Robin said, putting a hand to her chin as she flipped through the book she had been holding. Robin then looked up and smiled. She showed the book to the group and they all looked at it.

After a few words in the first paragraph, Usopp, Franky, Chopper, and Chas's eyes widened. When they got past that paragraph, their eyes continued to grow wider and wider until they reached the end of the page. Chas looked at Robin, fully hoping that Robin was playing a joke. But from the smile of Nico Robin's face, there was no joke being played; thus, Chas fainted and everyone began panicking.

"R-Robin…?" Nami said, turning her head. "What did you just show them?"

Robin chuckled as she walked away with Nami following behind, forgetting about the three boys trying to wake Chas. "Oh, just the solution they were looking for."

_**History Matej Torok's Curse Armor:**_

_Matej Torok was one of the many pirates in the XXX's. He was known for winning any battle he was placed in. His secret was unknown to his crew and anyone who knew his name, but everyone believe it was the armor he never took off. Matej Torok's armor protected him throughout such battles and had never left his side._

_When Matej Torok was taking his last breath, having been defeated in the XXX by XXX the Third, he placed a curse on his armor: "Anyone who finds this armor, shall be cursed to meet death's eyes, as I have now. But whoever turns out to be deemed worthy by this armor, those who have a strong heart and protects those weaker than himself, shall not befall such a fate until fate has decided it's their end."_

_After his death, his comrades scattered his armor throughout the world. As of late there have been three sightings of Matej Torok's armor: The chest plate had been found by a king in the North Blue, who soon later died of beheading; the left and right leg had been found by a pirate in the South Blue, only to be eaten by a Sea King hours later; and the right arm had been stolen from its tomb in the West Blue and taken to the Grand Line, only to disappear without word and has been unsighted to this day._

_There has been no word of the others parts of Matej Torok's armor as of yet, but if anyone should befall a piece of this armor, they will forever be stuck in it until death claims them or the armor deems them worthy. There is no release from Matej Torok's Cursed Armor._


	15. Chapter 15

It was dinner time for the crew and everyone was sitting at the dinner table, looking at the extravagant meal before them.

"MEAT!" Luffy shouted, quickly stretching his arms across the table to grab the meat on the other side. Once he had finished that off, he started snatching food from his comrade's plates.

"Knock it off, Luffy!" Usopp shouted, taking his plate away so Luffy couldn't get it. "There's enough food here, you don't need to steal it!"

Luffy started talking with his mouth full, saying something about being hungry (no one actually knew what he was saying) and then he continued to stuff his face.

"Chas?" Nami said, looking to the red head next to her after she slapped Luffy's hand away from her plate. "Everything all right? You haven't touched your plate at all."

Chas looked up and then back to her plate. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Chas looked back to Nami, calmly smiling to relieve the girl. "Just not as hungry as usual." Chas was about to dig into the delicious meal that Sanji had prepared for her, but sadly when she looked to her plate she found everything gone. "Huh…?" She looked over to Luffy to see him scarfing down her meal, but she simply shrugged it off and filled up an empty dish beside her. She then began quietly eating.

Everyone went silent and looked at Chas for a moment, not fully believing that she hadn't notice Luffy slip by and steal her plate, nor did she yell at him and put his head at gun point like she usually did. She was calm, reserved, and scary.

"Chas is scary when she's like this…" Chopper said, shaking in his spot.

"I-I agree…" Usopp said, shaking in fear also.

Chas looked up and to the others to see them all starring at her. "What?"

"Chas-san," Brook said, bending over to Chas's ear, "you don't seem like yourself." Chas looked at Brook, cocking an eyebrow. "I don't mean to be rude, or anything, but you're less…um…short-tempered and…"

"You're not being a smartass," Zoro said, taking a drink of sake.

"Shut up, Marimo," Sanji said, walking into the room with a bottle in hand, "you don't know what you're saying! Chas-san isn't a smartass! She's delectable!" Sanji stepped around the table and stood next to Chas, hearts in his eyes and that 'I'm so in love' atmosphere. "Chas-san, I've brought you the usual bottle."

Chas looked up and to the bottle in Sanji's hands. She then smiled kindly to Sanji, freezing him. "Thanks, Sanji, but I'm fine without it."

Chopper, Usopp, Brook, and even Luffy gasped.

"She called him 'Sanji'!" Chopper and Usopp said.

"And she turned down alcohol!" Brook and Luffy shouted with their mouths full.

"Don't talk with your mouths full!" Nami shouted at them.

Chas soon stood to her feet and smiled at everyone. "Well, I'm going to excuse myself for the evenin'." Chas then walked away leaving quietly. When the door shut behind her, that's when everyone went crazy.

"What's wrong with her?!" Usopp shouted, panicking just like Chopper was. "Is she sick with a deadly disease and depressed because she doesn't have much time?!"

"I don't know!" Chopper cried. "But I'm scared! Someone find a doctor!"

"You are a doctor, Chopper…" Nami said, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Oh, right," Chopper laughed, rubbing his head.

"She is acting quite odd," Franky said. "Ikasu hasn't been herself since she saw that book."

"What book?" Sanji questioned.

"I found a book earlier in the Library that had information on Matej Torok's Cursed Armor," Robin answered leaning back.

"And?" Zoro said, leaning forward. "What'd it say?"

"She's stuck with it," Chopper said bluntly, playing with his hands.

Robin nodded, seeming a bit downhearted at the news she was giving. "However the curse on the armor isn't as powerful as we thought. The armor curses anyone who is not deemed worthy of possessing it."

"Meaning if Chas can be deemed worthy…" Brook thought out loud.

"Then she'll be all right?" Luffy questioned.

"Hypothetically, yes," Robin answered. "Chas might believe she can live up to the expectations of the curse, but the armor has yet to see that in her. So far the armor has only seen the brash and hot-tempered side of the Chas we know."

Everyone was silent, wondering how they would help their new nakama. They didn't know what to do. This was just something Chas needed to do by herself.

* * *

The next day, Chas sat outside, swinging on the swing as she quietly looked at the ground.

Usopp and Luffy continued to look at her from a distance, wondering if she would ever look up or even smile. She looked like one of the zombies from Thriller Bark, and that was frightening to them.

"We need to do something," Luffy said, nodding.

"Yep," Usopp agreed.

Pretty soon, operation 'Make Teaspoon Happy' was a go and Luffy, along with Usopp, Chopper, and Brook (who after learning what they were doing decided to join) began to try and fulfill that day's requirement.

"Chas-san!" Brook sang as he ran up to Chas.

Chas looked up and smiled at Brook, not one of her normal smiles though. "Hey, Brook, what's up?"

Brook had to say, he missed her calling him 'Skully Boy' or 'Mr. Skulls' or even just 'Skulls'. He didn't like this new Chas, she wasn't fun at all.

"I've got a new song, and I wanted to get your opinion," Brook said, leaning forward with his hand placed behind his back.

"Oh, all right," Chas said, placing her hands in her lap.

Brook grabbed his violin and began playing the most absurd song he's ever played, which is really saying something. Usopp and Chopper had to cover their ears, cringing as the music began playing, while Luffy started laughing nonstop at how funny it was. It was the funniest song he had ever heard. Chas on the other had didn't do anything, just sat there with a straight face. When Brook had finished the amusing song, he looked at Chas with a smile.

"How was it?" Brook asked, looking for any sign of laughter coming from her, but there was nothing.

Chas sat there for a minute, starring at Brook. She then smiled and said, "It was wonderful, Brook." Chas then got up and walked away with a sigh, leaving Brook rather stunned at her reaction. He figured for sure she would laugh, but she didn't.

Usopp smiled and quickly went over to Chas. "Hey, Chas, I have a joke for you!"

"Really?" Chas questioned with her glum expression. "Okay, what is it?"

"Why did the calf cross the road?" Usopp asked, smiling confidently.

Chas stood there for a moment, staring at him. "I don't know…why?"

"To get to the _udder _side!" Usopp, along with Chopper and Luffy a few feet away, began laughing, but Chas kept a straight face. She then walked past him only to run into Luffy and Chopper next.

"Oi, Teaspoon," Luffy said, holding up a ball, "wanna play catch?"

Chas sighed. "Sure…why not?"

As the group began playing catch, with Brook and Usopp joining in, Zoro, having come out from the gym, and Sanji, bringing a drink to Nami and Robin, passed by and saw the group. Just as Zoro was going to start his afternoon nap and Sanji was going to hand the drinks over Robin and Nami who were tending the plants, they heard the frantic shouting coming from deck. It was Chopper and Brook from the sound of it.

"What's with all the noise?" Zoro asked, walking onto deck with the others, rubbing his ear.

"Luffy sent Chas overboard!" Chopper and Brook cried, pointing to Luffy who was looking over the edge of the ship with Usopp.

"How'd that happen?" Nami asked, quite shocked.

"He threw the ball too hard," Usopp answered, crossing his arms and looking back to the others. "If it counts for anything, he did try grabbing her."

"If he tried grabbing her, how'd she get over board?" Zoro asked, crossing his arms.

"I missed," Luffy said, laughing as he scratched his head.

"This isn't a laughing matter!" everyone shouted at him.

After shouting at Luffy for a moment, and kicking the young captain with Nami's help, the others rescued Chas. As she laid on the ground, they were all beginning to grow impatient when she showed no sign of movement.

"Luffy killed Chas!" Chopper cried, hugging Zoro's leg and blowing his nose on the swordsman's jacket.

"Get off me!" Zoro shouted, shaking his leg to get free of Chopper, but he wouldn't let go no matter what.

"Maybe she took in too much water…?" Robin said, crossing her arms.

"Maybe someone should give her mouth to mouth?" Nami suggested.

After Nami's suggested that, Sanji's mind began wondering through possibilities, many in which he shouldn't have been thinking in the first place. But giving mouth to mouth to Chas would have been a dream come true for the bachelor, which would explain to the others why the man's nose was bleeding beyond belief. But after a while he had recovered and declared: "I'll do it!" Before anyone had anything to say, Sanji stopped listening and puckered his lips in all intention to help Chas.

As he inched closer, he was suddenly stopped half way when a hand grabbed his face. He opened his eyes and smiled happily when he saw Chas looking right at him, but before he could say anything, he was shoved aside by Brook, Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy.

"CHAS!" they all shouted.

Chas looked at them and before she could even open her mouth to say anything, the group, and Sanji, began bickering and yelling at Luffy for pushing her overboard. Soon the bickering turned into fighting and Nami tried breaking them apart with Zoro's help. Strangely, Chas began smiling when she saw Zoro having trouble holding back Chopper. She also found herself chuckling when she saw Nami yelling at Luffy along with Sanji and the others instead of trying to keep them from fighting. Soon Robin and Franky had to intervene when things got out of hand again; thus everyone but Chas was involved in the fighting.

Everyone suddenly stopped yelling at each other when Chas suddenly began laughing nonstop. They all turned their heads to look at her and saw her holding her stomach as she laid on the ground still.

"C-Chas?" Usopp said, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

Chas opened her eyes and wiping her eyes from the tears that were coming with all her laughter. "S-Sorry, it's just…" Chas then began laughing again before she could finish. For some reason she had this strange, ticklish feeling on her chest and stomach.

Everyone froze and their faces paled when they saw Chas's shirt moving. Pretty soon, a small sea snake head popped its head out between her breasts and stayed there, eyeing them.

"U-Uh, C-C-Chas?" Chopper, Nami, and Brook said, pointing to the snake.

Chas stopped laughing long enough to look down and see the snake slithering out of her shirt. She met the snake's red eyes and didn't seem quite shocked to see it. The two stared at each other while the few Straw Hat crew members freaked out at seeing the thing.

Soon enough, Luffy had grabbed the poor snake, smiling at it and declaring it his new pet. The snake simply slithered around his arm and licked his face (which seemed more of a dog's thing then a snake's, but the crew could have cared less).

"We're not keeping that thing," everyone said when Luffy turned around and looked at them, waiting for them to agree with his decision. But sadly, the snake needed to go.

* * *

It was late at night now and Zoro was making his way back to bed, having gotten up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. As he made his way slowly across deck, he looked up and noticed there was a light on in the Crow's Nest. Out of curiosity, he began climbing up the rope ladder to the Crow's Nest. When he had reached it, he was surprised to see Chas there, wrapped in a blanket.

"Why are you still awake?" Zoro asked, stretching as he walked over to her. "I thought Usopp was on tonight's watch?"

Chas looked up at the swordsman and then back out the window. "I told him I'd switch with him…"

"Why?" Zoro questioned, sitting behind her and looking at her back.

"Just…" Chas went silent for a moment and then answered. "I wanted to think for a bit…"

Zoro sighed and scratched his head. He then just sat there, silent. He didn't have anything else to say, but he had a feeling like he shouldn't just leave her up in the Crow's Nest by herself in this condition.

"I think I've finally figured it out…" Chas mumbled.

"Figured what out?" Zoro dared asking, looking towards Chas. He suddenly felt his chest tighten when he saw her smile at him, something she rarely did.

"I've figured out what my dream is," she answered. Chas soon went serious and looked out the window again, determination reading in her eyes. "I dream of being able to swim."

The tightness in Zoro's chest suddenly vanished when the words left her mouth. He couldn't believe he was actually hearing her say something that was completely impossible for her. He couldn't tell if she was being serious, or if she was joking.

"That's impossible for you, Dango," Zoro said.

"Oh yeah, Warabimochi?" Chas said, smirking at him as if she was asking for a challenge. "Then our dreams our on the same page." Zoro's eye twitched in irritation at her words. "There's no way a crappy swordsman like _you_ would be able to be the greatest swordsman in the world."

Zoro reached his hand forward and pulled on her cheek, annoyed with her. "What was that, Oshiruko?" Chas glared at him. "And here I thought you were still worried about that damn armor." Zoro then let go of Chas and stood to his feet, walking back to the door.

Chas rolled her eyes and looked out the window again. "It's not that I'm _not _worried." Zoro stopped and looked back over his shoulder, a bit surprised to hear her opening up to him, a person she didn't like.

Chas placed her hands on her head and scratched, irritated with her thoughts. "UGH!" She then slammed down her hands on the cushions, and laid down. "In all my years of sailin', I don't remember bein' so scared as I am now." Chas closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm upset in myself for bein' so scared of words…but after readin' from that book Robin showed, I don't have any confidence in myself to live up to the expectations."

Zoro stood there for a moment, looking at Chas. He wondered how such a strong person could be so easily broken like that.

Chas opened her eyes when she suddenly felt Zoro's fist grinding into her forehead. "What the hell, Mochi?!" Chas sat up and glared at Zoro, who glared right back at her.

"Quit with the sulking, it's irritating," Zoro said, crossing his arms. "Why would you even worry over such a stupid thing?" Zoro smirked, making Chas flinch a bit. "Everyone knows you're not going to live up to the expectations anyway, so why not just give up?"

Chas gritted her teeth and stood to her feet, coming face to face with Zoro. "I'm not givin' up!" Zoro continued to smirk confidently, which irritated Chas beyond belief. "I _will _prove you wrong. I'll cheat this curse one way or another and when I do, I'll beat yer ass in a real fight!"

Zoro was still smirking, but he soon knocked on Chas's head and said, "There's your answer."

Chas stared blankly at him for a moment and continued to stare at him even though he was walking away.

"Oh, and"-Zoro turned around with a devious smile-"if you wanted to get your ass beaten in a fight, Yokan, then you could have just said something."

Chas's face turned red from rage and embarrassment. She then grabbed one of the weights next to her and threw it at him, yelling for him to get out. Zoro left before the weight hit him, and as he walked back to bed confidently, he didn't realize how much he had grown fond of the young red head.


	16. Chapter 16

"It's so hot…" Luffy panted, rolling over onto his back. "Why is it so hot?!"

"We must be nearing Esturea," Nami said from the Helm, fanning herself as she looked over the journal another time that day.

"Is this place a volcano or something?" Usopp asked with a sigh.

"Might very well be…"

Usopp and Luffy jumped at the sound of Chas's voice. They quickly turned around and saw Chas, with less clothes on then she usually wears. This time she was wearing a multicolored bikini.

"Ya know," Chas said looking up to the dark sky. "Esturea was said to have a large volcano on it…" Chas crossed her arms, which in turn pushed up her already oversized chest, and put a hand to her chin. "Then again, this is my first time going anywhere near here. I only have rumors to run on." Chas stopped talking and looked down to the boys who were laying on the ground, faces coated with a light blush. "What are ya looking at?"

"Your boobs," Luffy said, being brutally honest, which in turn got him a kick from Usopp and Sanji, who had just walked over on his way back to the kitchen.

"Stop starring at her perfect body dammit!" Sanji shouted.

"Like you're talking…" Usopp mumbled.

"What'd you say?" Sanji looked to Usopp, who flinched back and shook his head to indicate he didn't say anything.

"Aw, it's fine, Black Leg," Chas said, waving a hand. "It's pure innocence."

"It isn't all right to-" Sanji cut off when he laid eyes on Chas for the first time since breakfast that morning. He immediately turned to stone…literally. After he had been hit on the head a few times, he had snapped out of it and quickly began swooning over Chas. "Oh, Chas-san, you look absolutely ravishing!" He quickly grabbed her arm, looking at it (and the rest of her exposed body) over with his heart filled eyes. "Your beautiful light tan skin that's like white mocha; your bright blue eyes that look like the familiar seas; your red hair that's like a lovely raspberry; and your-"

"Abundant chest of treasure," Brook said, staring blankly at Chas's exposed chest. That's when he got hit.

Chas stepped over the two bodies now laying at her feet, leaving the bloody chef to Chopper and Brook's broken skull for Luffy's trusty glue (which he had gotten at the last island). She sat down on the bench attached to the foremast and leaned forward sighing.

Zoro opened his eye and looked over to Chas. He then closed his eye again, grumbling loud enough for her to hear him. "You really have no feminine qualities…"

"Ya say somethin', Mochi?" Chas snarled at him, turning her head to the green-haired swordsman.

"You heard me," Zoro said, smirking. "Should you really be sitting like that with those clothes?"

Chas narrowed her eyes at Zoro and looked down to how she was sitting. It wasn't unusual, she always sat with her legs spread and arms resting against her knees. Her back was slightly arched with her leaning forward, which just let her hair roll down it.

"What's yer point, Marimo?" Chas said, looking back at Zoro only to get hit in the face with his jacket. She removed his jacket from her face and glared at Zoro, who was still casually laying back. "What the hell is this for?"

"I think he's saying you need to put some clothes on, Chas," Chopper said, looking up at the girl. Chopper then smiled innocently.

"Says the half-naked man that's been laying on the stairs all day."

"At least I'm wearing pants," Zoro said, opening his eye to look at Chas.

"At least I walk around with a shirt on," Chas countered.

"Not much of a shirt."

That's how the arguing began and slowly began to get out of hand, like usual. Luckily the others had kept them from drawing any weapons on each other and kept them from destroying the ship. Sadly, they had to continue to keep it that way until they reached Esturea.

_In Esturea:_

* * *

"FIND HER!" the King shouted, slamming his hand against his regal chair. "I will not tolerate this behavior any longer!" The knights in the room all saluted and ran out quickly before the King would want them dead. He was in the worst mood possible with his daughter, Claire, gone from the castle. She had run out while the guards were switching shifts, and she hadn't been found since.

_I must find her… _the King thought, putting a hand to his forehead. _Before anything can happen to her… _The King rubbed his forehead and sighed, standing from his seat and turning to leave only to be stopped. "Oh, Willis, I didn't see you there."

"It's quite all right your majesty," Prince Willis said, smiling to the old King. Willis placed his hand behind his back and looked at the King with his narrow green eyes. "There's still no sign of Princess Claire?"

The King sighed and shook his head. "I'm deeply sorry about this Prince Willis. I don't know what my daughter was thinking, and just as the plans for your wedding had been decided too."

"It's quite all right, Your Majesty," Willis replied. "There's no harm in waiting a bit longer."

Even if Willis said that, the King had a feeling like the Prince was lying to him.

* * *

"How'd you lose her, Marimo?!" Sanji shouted at Zoro.

"Shut up, Mustache Brows!" Zoro shouted. "And I didn't lose her, she walked off!"

"Still… How'd you lose her?!"

At the moment, Chas was missing. After stopping at port, and splitting into groups of three, Sanji, Zoro, and Chas had went off to get food and other supplies for their journey. Sadly, when the two men looked away for a bit, Chas had wondered off somewhere and the two didn't know where. For the time being they were still searching for her.

"Where could the idiot have gone?" Zoro grumbled to himself as he looked over the crowd for any sign of Chas's red hair. That's when he spotted it in the near distance, talking to a shop owner. "Found her!" Zoro soon began walking over.

"Wait, Marimo, that's not-" Sanji cut off when he realized it was too late, Zoro had already grabbed the young woman by the arm and turned her around. When the woman turned around, the men were astonished by how much the girl resembled the one they were looking for. But, sadly, before they could ask any more questions, the girl screamed and began weakly slapping Zoro to let her go. That's when Zoro knew there was something _completely _wrong with the situation.

* * *

"Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?" Chas mumbled to herself, looking at the multiple streets filled with people in front of her. She didn't know how she got separated from Sanji and Zoro, she just knew she was. Maybe she had taken a wrong turn somewhere.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Chas looked back over her shoulder and saw two men standing behind her, both wearing suits and nice hats with sunglasses.

"Yeah?" Chas said, raising an eyebrow at them.

"We're going to have to ask you to come with us," the man on the right said.

"Who the hell-" Before Chas could have even reacted, a bag had been placed over her head and she had been bound by ropes. After that, she didn't know what happened.

* * *

**Okay, I know this chapter was fairly short, but there are reasons behind that.**

**First reason: This week is my birthday and I am going to be on leave from writing (writing EVERYTHING), but after this week I should be back to updating whenever I finish a chapter.**

**Second reason: I didn't know how to clearly get these thoughts across. So in my time of leave, I will think over this little plot of chapters and see if I can get a better idea on how to make YOU understand.**

**I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter nonetheless and I do hope to see you all around for the next chapter.**

**Thank you very much!**


	17. Chapter 17

_In Esturea Castle:_

"Are you idiots?!" the King shouted at the two men in front of him, holding open the bag they had caught their 'princess' in. "This is not my daughter!"

"We're positive it is, Your Majesty!" the man on the right said. "She looks just like her."

"I would recognize my own daughter!" the King shouted once again. "This…woman is not her! The girl you have brought back is way to…large breasted to be my daughter!"

"I told you…" the man on the left said to the first. "I told you the woman had way too big of boobs to be the princess."

"How would I know?" the man on the right replied. "The woman looks just like the princess from any other angle!"

The King looked into the bag and looked over the woman the two men had brought them. "That's true…this girl _does _look like my daughter from other areas…" That soon began plotting a devious plan inside his head, and that's when he realized that this mistake might work out for the better.

"What should we do with her, Your Majesty?" the two men asked.

The King smirked and said, "Send her to the Princess's Chambers and alert me of when she wakes."

* * *

_In Town:_

After the girl had allegedly vanished, Zoro and Sanji went to find the others to notify them that Chas was missing. Of course the two looked and looked, but the only clue they had was that girl that looked like Chas and had gotten away before either of them could question her. Of course, it was a complete assumption that Chas had been kidnapped or anything, and it's quite possible the chef and swordsman were just over reacting. But with how much trouble Nami had been in getting kidnaped, it wasn't a completely bad idea that Chas ended up the same.

"Teaspoon's gone?" Luffy said, freezing from his meal and looking up to Sanji and Zoro.

"Yeah," Sanji said, clicking his tongue, "she ran off somewhere and we can't find her."

"That can't be possible," Nami said, crossing her arms. "I saw her in a shop earlier."

"That might have been the duplicate," Zoro said, sighing. "We saw a woman that looked just like her in the market."

"Maybe it was her and she lost her memory," Usopp suggested, crossing his arms and full serious with his accusation.

Zoro narrowed his eyes at Usopp, getting angry because the man brought up old, wish to be forgotten, memories.

"Maybe we should go looking?" Chopper questioned, looking to Nami.

"That might be a good idea…" Nami answered.

Pretty soon, everyone split up in hopes of finding Chas.

* * *

_Back at the castle:_

"Let me get this straight," Chas said, scratching her head as she leaned forward, surprising everyone with her boyish behavior, "ya want _me _to pretend to be yer daughter, Princess Claire, until you figure out who is after her life."

"C-Correct," the Kind stuttered, quite surprised to find the young girl's legs spread and her slouching so much she looked like an ape.

"And how long would that be for?" Chas asked. She had a feeling the others were most likely looking for her right now, and if she didn't return soon, they would no doubt leave without her.

_Then again, it's Strawhat I'm talkin' about… _Chas thought, scratching her head.

"I don't know how long it would be for." The King soon grabbed Chas's hands and began pleading with her. "Please, Miss Chas, I would be ever so appreciative if you would do this! I would give you anything, anything at all!"

Chas lifted an eyebrow, thinking of all the marvelous treasure she could get if she did this. But unlike Nami, Chas didn't care for the treasure. Seeing the desperate look in the King's eyes told her she needed to do this, even if the other didn't understand.

"Ya don't need to do anything," Chas said, sighing and taking her hands back. "Just tell me what I need to do so I can get this over with quickly. I don't know how long Strawhat and the others will wait."

"Thank you so much, Miss Chas!" the King said, bowing humbly. He soon snapped his fingers, making the maids walk in with smiles. "Maids, I leave this rest to you!" The King then left.

"All right, Miss Chas," the maids chimed, giving rather frightening smiles to Chas, "let's start by trying to get that armor off."

Chas backed away slowly as the creepy maids closed in on her, but she knew she couldn't run away forever.

* * *

_Three days later on the Thousand Sunny:_

Luffy continued to turn his finger in circles, pressing it hard against the railing as he did so. It had been over twenty-four hours since Chas had gone missing and in that time everyone, and I mean everyone, was searching for her.

"This is so boring…" Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp sighed, all falling back into the grass.

"Then why don't you three go search the city again?!" Nami shouted, kicking them all in the head. "Maybe there will be some clue leading to where she went to."

"I highly doubt there will be," Zoro said, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back against the stump of the tree. "If she hasn't returned by now, then she didn't run off by herself."

"I hate to admit it, but Marimo is right," Sanji said, biting down on his cigarette a bit. "She wouldn't just run off without a word, and she's good with directions. That means only one thing…" Everyone leaned in to hear Sanji's serious words, but what they got was completely unexpected.

Sanji broke down, crying and punching the wall, all while saying, "My beloved Chas-san has been kidnapped!"

"Since when was she yours?!" Zoro shouted, quickly standing to his feet. "I don't remember her ever becoming yours in the first place!"

Sanji narrowed his eyes at Zoro, both men staring daggers at one another. "And why should that be of any concern to you, Marimo?"

Zoro's face flushed. Why _was _he standing up for her? It wasn't like he cared or could say anything otherwise. It was just something in him that told him to stand up for Chas. That and the slight thought that she belonged to him (in a 'you're my slave way').

"Oh…" Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper hummed. All three smirked and nudged Zoro. "You like her!"

Zoro stopped glaring at Sanji and was no glaring at the three nudging him, gripping two of his swords in the process. "Say something?"

"N-No!" Usopp said, waving his hands in front of his face.

"OI!"

Everyone stopped from their bickering and teasing to look over the edge of the Thousand Sunny to see Brook waving a paper in his hands. Everyone lifted an eyebrow, wondering what news he had brought them.

* * *

_Esturea Castle:_

"Wait, wait, wait!" Chas screamed, avoiding the maids she dubbed 'the crazy, blood thirsty, maids' as they were trying to tie a corset around her. "I don't remember anything being said about a party!"

"That's why I'm mentioning it now!" the King said, shaking his head.

"Hold up," Chas said, finally stopping in her run around the room. "I didn't agree to go to any party, and certainly not an _engagement _party." Chas crossed her arms, cocking a hip while only being in her underwear. "This was _not _in the agreement."

"But it is necessary for the Princess of Esturea to attend her own engagement party," the King countered. "If someone does not attend in my daughters place, then rumors will begin to spread and Prince Willis will most likely be very angry!" The King stood to his feet. "At the moment my daughter, Prince Willis's true bride, is missing, and _you _are the only substitute that can take her place!"

Chas knew he was right, but playing the part of the Princess at her own engagement party was a bit more then she could handle. For the past few days she had only needed to walk around the castle, go on the necessary 'dates' Prince Willis had wanted (even if she couldn't stand it), and sit her butt on the thrown while the King answered questions from the people. Chas didn't learn enough "Princess 101" to attend an engagement party.

"Fine…" Chas mumbled. "I'll do this much. But"-Chas grabbed the King by his collar and snarled at him-"if yer daughter isn't found before the weddin' day, I will be _extremely _pissed and will quit this game of house before you can even try gettin' me back."

"U-Understood," the King stuttered.

Chas released the King and watched him as he wobbled out the door. She soon then realized what trouble she was _actually _in. She turned around just in time to meet that trouble eye to eye. The corset and the two maids.

"All right, Miss Chas," they chimed, "time to make you pretty for your beautiful engagement party!"

"THIS ISN'T MY PARTY!" Chas screamed as the maids caught her, tide her down, and forced the corset around her waist. Chas barely had time to see the eyes peeking through the cracked door.

* * *

_That night:_

When the Straw Hats had heard from Brook about there being a ball at the royal palace, and the information he had gotten from numerous sources that they had seen a red headed girl get dragged into the castle, the pirate crew decided it was their best bet to brake in and see for themselves. Although, Luffy originally didn't think about finding Chas, he just wanted the good food.

After knocking out two of the guards in the back entrance unconscious, the Straw Hats were able to infiltrate the castle with ease. But when they were standing in the castle's Ballroom, they were frozen at the gorgeous sight before them.

Usopp whistled as he looked to the chandler above the golden floor and then to the large group of people standing around the room in attire he had never seen before.

"Fancy…" Zoro scoffed, straightening his tie and jacket. He and the others needed to dress formally if they were planning on staying, but even with saying that, his swords and bandanna never left his side.

"I don't see Chas," Chopper said, looking around the room and frowning.

"Well, if she was kidnapped, they wouldn't really let her out to party," Nami said.

"R-Right!" Chopper said, looking around the room.

All right, before we do anything, we should-" Before Nami could even finish everyone had broken from the large group and went their separate ways.

* * *

"Your Highness."

Chas froze from her drinking when she heard the annoying, peppy, voice behind her. She looked back over her shoulder and saw it was indeed Prince Willis himself, smiling at her.

"What are you doing in a corner?" Willis asked. "You should be socializing, having fun with the other guests. It is _our _engagement party after all."

"Yes, I know, and ye…you're right." Chas smiled nervously with sweat dripping slightly from her brow. She didn't feel right every time she was around the man, and she didn't appreciate having to correct her language when near him.

_I really wish those stupid maids hadn't tightened this so much… _Chas thought, tugging at the corset under her light pink dress. Sadly with the corset being so tight, she couldn't move around freely, let alone breath freely.

"Come," Willis said, taking Chas's hand, "we'll dance, I'm sure that'll cheer you up my dear!"

_Highly doubt that Sherlock… _Chas followed the Prince towards the dance floor, bumping shoulders with a few people, not even noticing one of those shoulders was Sanji's.

On the other hand, Sanji knew right away that he had bumped into her when she had apologized for running into him. But by the time he had turned around to meet the girl's blue eyes, she wasn't there. She had already been dragged into the crowd by Prince Willis. But Sanji wasn't going to give up on finding her.

* * *

Zoro downed another drink, smiling to himself when he placed the empty glass of the table with all the others (including a few bottles). He had to admit, rich people always had the best taste in alcohol. He couldn't remember a time when he had tasted anything finer.

Zoro glanced up from his tenth glass, hearing girls whisper from beside him. He saw the group standing near one of the pillars, looking at him every now and then as they giggled among themselves. Of course, Zoro being Zoro, didn't care much for them and went back to his drinking of another glass, but he was stopped when the girls were suddenly beside him.

Zoro looked at the girls with a polite smile as they introduced themselves, only to soon get asked, "Would you like to dance?"

"Sorry, but I don't dance," Zoro answered, before getting bonked on the head from afar. He turned around, throwing daggers at whoever did it, who he found out to be Sanji across the room. Zoro ignored the blonde and went back to the girls. "It's be better if you go ask that idiot."

"Oh come on!" the girls whined, tugging on Zoro's arm. "We want to dance with _you, _not _him_!" The girls then pulled Zoro towards the dance floor, making him dance along with everyone else.

Everyone turned and moved to the music (which Brook had suddenly become a part of, livening up the place) with a switch of partners every now and then. Zoro had danced with multiple girls and he didn't know any of them, all the while Sanji was on the sidelines getting angry because Zoro was getting all the attention.

The same thing had happened with Chas. She had been spun, switched, and danced with so many times she didn't know who was who anymore. To make things worse, she had been spun so hard that she wouldn't stop until someone else grabbed her, and it was lucky that someone, in that moment, did.

As Chas looked up to see who was now with her, she froze as the music came to its conclusion, staring into the eyes of the man in front of her.

The couple was still standing there in the middle of the floor, still staring at each other, while everyone around them clapped for the wonderful music. The two just couldn't believe their eyes, or _eye _in one case.

Zoro and Chas never expected they would see each other at the party, in front of each other.

"Claire!"

Chas flinched and looked over her shoulder, seeing Prince 'Big Wig', she dubbed him, across the dance floor.

"Damn…" Chas mumbled. She was about to leave Zoro, but he arm was suddenly grabbed, keeping her from moving. "Let go of me, Marimo!"

Zoro didn't reply, just stood there looking at her.

Chas heard Prince Willis calling for her again, so she thought of the best thing she could do: Drag Zoro with her.

Chas dragged the marimo out onto the balcony, or so she led Willis to believe. Instead, she hid with him in the large curtain nearby, which made Zoro stiffen and feel a bit…well, strange. He didn't know why his heart was thumping the way it was, nor why his stomach was doing knots when Chas pressed up against him. He even felt his-

"I could have sworn she ran this way," Willis said, crossing his arms and walking away, back into the Ballroom.

"Perfect," Chas sighed. She turned her back to Zoro and was about to come out of hiding. But Zoro suddenly stopped her.

Zoro grabbed Chas's wrist and spun her around, hugging her tightly. She was shocked and had this strange feeling in her chest.

"I missed you!" he said, shocking the retired captain even more. Zoro pulled away, resting his hands on her shoulders. "That lazy ass chef with not shut up! He keeps asking: 'Where's Chas-san?' or 'Why aren't you looking for Chas-san?', like I know where the hell you are!"

Chas stood there with her mouth opened. She continued to stare at Zoro blankly, but soon found herself getting ready to speak. She thought, and hoped, to say what was actually on her mind, but instead the opposite came out. "About time you got yer ass here! Do you know how long I was waiting?!"

Zoro glared. "Quit fussing, we knew where you were this whole time!"

"Ya liar!" Chas shouted back. "You didn't know until just now!"

"I did-"

The two were cut off by the curtain suddenly being drawn back by someone. The two turned their heads to see Prince Willis standing there, not looking too happy.

"There you are my dear," he said, grabbing hold of Chas's wrist and tugging her away from Zoro. "Why are you with such a imprudent man?" Zoro's eye twitched irritably. "Come, we wouldn't want his stupidity to rub off on you even more."

Chas's eye twitched this time. She knew for a fact she wasn't stupid. Sure, she didn't know a meat fork from a soup fork, _hell _she didn't even know the proper names for them! But she was _not_ stupid.

Before Chas could even object to going along with the man, Zoro had grabbed her arm and taken her back from Prince Willis, which shocked both beings at the same time. But Chas was even more shocked when Zoro suddenly punched Prince Willis unconscious.

"Sorry, but she's mine," Zoro said, wrapping a hand around Chas's waist protectively.

Chas's heard jumped at this moment, but she didn't understand why. Next thing Chas knew, she was being dragged away from the knocked out prince and was getting led to where the others all stood.

"Chas-san!" Sanji shouted, pulling her away from Zoro and hugging her tightly. Sadly, before he could say anymore, Zoro had pulled her away from the chef and the shouting of guards nearby echoed through _all _their ears.

"GET THE IMPOSTERS!" the guards shouted.

That was when every Straw Hat member dropped whatever they were doing and made a run for it.


	18. Chapter 18

"Are you insane?!" The King shouted at the Straw Hats. After having ran for hours, the guards had finally caught up to them. At first everyone was going to fight for their freedom, but Chas told them not to, she even knocked out Zoro to make sure he didn't do anything; thus, why were handcuffed, kneeling on the floor in front of the king in his private quarters.

"Your little 'rescue mission' could have cost me everything that I've been working on!" the King continued. He soon turned towards Chas, the only person who wasn't cuffed, and glared at her. "And _you_! What were you thinking on inviting them?!"

"Invitin' them?!" Chas shouted right back, not caring if she was shouting a King (who could most likely kill her at the wave of his hand). "I don't even know how they knew I was here!" Chas put a hand to her forehead, massaging her temples with a small sigh. "Just give me a few minutes and I'll straighten out this whole ordeal."

"I'll give you ten minutes," the King threatened. "But they _must _be out of the castle by then."

Chas crossed her arms as the King left, slamming the door behind him. Chas grabbed the keys from the table and walked around unlocking the cuffs around each of her friends. After that, she walked across the room and opened the door, holding it open.

"Leave, all of you," Chas demanded.

"C-Chas?" Chopper stuttered, tilting his head.

Chas didn't say anything, nor did she shut the door and walk away. She continued to hold it open, looking to the ground to not show her hurt expression. She didn't want to send them away, but she knew she had to. She soon looked up, her expression completely changed.

Zoro looked up and met eyes with Chas. Chas looked right back at him, eyes filled with anger and hatred. Zoro got the message, but the others weren't really sure there was one to get.

"Come on guys," Zoro said, walking right out, passing Chas by. "She doesn't want us around anyway."

"O-Oi, Zoro!" Usopp shouted, running after Zoro.

Nami, Robin, Chopper, and Brook all left silently, not saying anything to Chas. They didn't know why she wanted them to leave, but they thought it would be best to go. They had faith that she knew what she was doing.

Chas looked up towards Luffy and Sanji. Sanji calmly walked over to Chas and looked straight at her, serious. He didn't say anything, but after looking at her for some time he patted her shoulder and walked out.

Luffy placed a hand on his straw hat, grabbing it from the table it had been placed on, and walked out the door, following the others.

Chas's grip tightened on the door handle. She couldn't have them leave without knowing, but she couldn't just tell them why she had to stay either. If she did, there would be no doubt she would get the King even angrier, to the point where he would kill her even if his daughter wasn't found.

Chas quickly ran over to the table grabbing a piece of paper that was laying there, and as fast she could she wrote down the circumstances she was stuck in.

* * *

"Wait!"

The Straw Hats stopped walking right when they reached the gate and turned around to see Chas, clumsily, running towards them.

"Teaspoon?" Luffy questioned, scratching his head. "What are you-" Luffy cut himself off when he was suddenly embraced by Chas. Luffy, being the way he was, was completely, and utterly, confused. As was most of the others standing behind him, maybe even more so.

"U-Uh…" Usopp said, his jaw dropped to the ground, comically, like Brook's, Nami's, and Chopper's was.

As of Robin, she was chuckling happily at the amused faces in front of her and was equally amused at the angered faces of Sanji and Zoro next to her. She understood why both were angry, even if they didn't see it themselves yet.

Chas pulled away from Luffy and looked him straight in the eye, tears at the corners. "Don't forget about me, 'kay?"

Luffy tilted his head to the side, scratching his head under his hat. "Come back? Why would we do that?" Luffy's eyebrows met in the middle. "If you want us to come back and get you, why don't you just leave right now so we don't have to do that?"

Chas's smile faded and her eyes began streaming water, getting the others behind Luffy all worked up about him making her cry. But when Chas stepped away from Luffy, looking hurt, and slapped the boy across the face (hard enough to make his cheek red and head turn), they stopped fussing.

"How could you just toy with a young maiden's heart like that?!" Chas put her hand to her eyes, making drama out of the situation to keep the guards around them unaware of her true intentions.

Luffy freaked, thinking the situation was completely real. "W-Wait, Teaspoon, I'm sorry, all right? Uh…"

"You pirates are all the same!" Chas screamed, slapping Luffy again. "I'll never forgive you for breaking me heart!" Chas then ran away, crying with the guards chasing after her to calm their 'Princess Claire'.

* * *

"How's your cheek?" Chopper asked, giving Luffy more ice for the swollen skin on his face.

"Feeling better," Luffy answered with a smile. "I think she used her armored hand to slap me."

"Why _did _she slap you in the first place?" Usopp asked, resting his elbow on the kitchen counter.

Luffy shrugged, still trying to understand himself.

"Well," Robin said, smiling, "it's not like our Captain would do anything naughty with our little red." Robin chuckled to herself.

Zoro glared at Robin. "Not funny."

Robin looked at Zoro. "Really? I thought it was quite amusing." Robin smirked. "Is there something that bothers you about the thought?"

Zoro grumbled as he looked away from Robin, his cheeks turning a slight red. He didn't understand, not in the slightest, about why he was disturbed about having that image in his head. Just the thought of Chas being with someone in that sort of manner bugged him. Maybe it was because he couldn't see men even liking a non-feminine female like her. Plus if she did ever do anything like _that _with a man, she would most likely suffocate him with her large breasts first.

_Why am I even thinking that? _Zoro asked himself, slapping himself mentally before focusing back to Luffy, who was getting strangled by Sanji.

After finally being able to pull Sanji off of Luffy, everyone discussed what was going on and why Chas kicked them out of the castle. A few ideas about Chas wanting to leave the group and becoming a pampered princess ran around the room, but Chopper and Zoro disagreed about it.

Luffy sat back and sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. That when he felt a piece of paper in his pants. He pulled it out and looked it over, raising an eyebrow. "Who put this in my pocket?"

"A piece of paper?" Nami questioned, grabbing it from Luffy's hand.

"I see!" Brook said, looking like he had finally understood his lifelong question after seeing the piece of paper.

"See what?" Sanji asked, crossing his arms and biting down on his cigarette.

"The reason Chas-san hugged Luffy-san was because she was giving him the letter and she didn't want the guards to know," Brook answered.

"That would explain so much," Nami said.

"I knew she wouldn't have done that without a motive," Zoro said, smirking.

"Relieved?" Robin questioned, tilting her head at Zoro. Zoro glared at Robin, but soon turned back to the others when Nami began unfolding the piece of paper and read it out loud.

"Dear everyone," Nami read, "due to Princess Claire's disappearance, I have taken her place and until she is found am unable to leave." Nami's eyes widened when she read the rest. "If Princess Claire isn't found before Friday, I will be forced to marry Prince Willis in her place."

"You mean that curly haired dude from the dance?" Usopp questioned.

"The one Zoro punched?" Luffy questioned, tilting his head in the same manner as Usopp.

"So, Princess Claire is the one we saw a few days ago?" Zoro questioned, ignoring Usopp and Luffy.

"Of course she is, stupid!" Sanji said, snarling at the swordsman. "Who else do we know looks like Chas-san?"

Zoro ignored Sanji, standing to his feet and crossing his arms. "So, find the girl and take her back to the castle, right?"

"That sounds about right," Nami said, shrugging her shoulders. Soon after she said that, Zoro began walking out of the cabin. "Wait, where are you going?!"

"To find that Princess."

* * *

**I apologize for the ending, but I've been tired lately (of writing I mean) and I really had to push myself to get this far. The next one will (hopefully) be better than this, and I hope you enjoyed anyway. Thank you for reading!**


	19. Chapter 19

"Damn…" Zoro said, turning his head both ways. Two roads: one to the left and the other to the right. "I can't believe the others got lost…"

Actually, _he _was the one that got lost due to his poor directional skills, not that he would admit that nor notice it. He had somehow swerved off down another path, different from the ones Luffy and the others had taken, leading to him the dead end he was now at.

Zoro sighed once more and decided to turn left, which was not the _right _direction.

Suddenly, Zoro was put to a halt when he heard smashing of glass, shouting, and multiple cries coming from a bar down the other road. He looked back over his shoulder just in time to see a fat man getting thrown out the window. Curiosity getting the best of him, or maybe fate putting him on the right directly, decided to go look to see what was causing this bar brawl.

When Zoro got to the door of the "Blue Gill" he was shocked to see Luffy, Usopp, Franky, Nami, Robin, Sanji, and Chopper had somehow become a part of this brawl.

"Oh, Zoro!" Luffy said after punching another guy unconscious. "There you are!"

Zoro had nothing to say, but when he suddenly laid eyes on the red hair across the room, he had something to say, "I see you found her."

* * *

_An Hour Earlier:_

Luffy and the others all grumbled, having no luck to finding the "Chas Twin" or their swordsman who had gotten lost once again. Of course, Sanji continued to mumble insults about the green-haired man, but that was nothing strange.

"Sanji!" Luffy complained, dragging his feet behind him. "I'm hungry!"

"No eating until we find that Princess!" Sanji shouted, glaring at Luffy and the others who were complaining (mostly Usopp and Chopper). "I'm not going to be feeding you food while Chas-san is stuck in a dire situation!"

"But we can't think on empty stomachs!" Usopp complained.

"Yeah!" Luffy wined.

"Come on, Sanji," Chopper said, now being carried by Robin because he had ran out of energy.

"NO!" Sanji shouted again.

"Oh come on, Sanji," Nami said, patting the chef on the shoulder. "We can go in here for a quick bite to eat and then get looking for Princess Claire right away afterwards." Nami pointed over her shoulder, towards the "Blue Gill" bar behind her, which Luffy and the other boys had already ran into.

Sanji simply sighed, tears falling from his eyes when he thought of Chas somewhere unpleasant which either meant with Prince Willis or being severely tortured (which couldn't be possible). _Don't worry Chas-san, we'll save you! _Sanji thought before walking into the bar and freezing at all the lovely figures before him.

"Oi, Sanji!" Luffy called, seeing his ships chef had fainted due to _another _major nosebleed, which Chopper was quick to stop. Sadly, that still didn't wake the man and he had to be dragged over to the table.

Nami and the others rolled their eyes. "He never changes…"

Just after Luffy had ordered the whole menu, along with a few extra servings from the others, a tall, slim, figure walked into the place and headed straight for the bar. The figure quickly grabbed Franky's, Nami's, and Robin's attention, while the others (and the unconscious chef of course) had failed to notice. What really caught them off was the voice when the figure asked for a glass of ale.

"Rough day?" the bar attendant asked, setting down the large glass and leaning against the counter.

"You can say that…" the figure replied. Most likely female from the sound of the voice and slim hands that reached for the glass.

"Still no luck finding a ship?"

"I checked everywhere… No one was going to take me away from here…" The figure suddenly took off her hood, revealing the red hair and familiar face that The Straw Hats had been searching all day for. Luffy, of course being the idiot he has _always _been and being rather forgetful, forgot everything about Princess Claire when eating and completely thought that the person sitting at the bar was Chas. The same thought had ran through Usopp's and Chopper's head when they laid eyes on her.

"CHAS!" the three shouted, suddenly jumping from their seats and running over to the counter.

The girl who the three was Chas was actually Princess Claire, the Princess that had ran away leaving her miserable life to Chas. Princess Claire looked at the three, rather shocked and terrified to find them so close to her. She didn't know them and the first thought that ran through her head was that they were working for her father.

"We're so glad that he finally let you go!" Chopper said, hugging Princess Claire's leg.

"How could agree to do such things?!" Usopp shouted at her. "Taking Princess Claire's place like that was just stupid!" Claire didn't know what the man was rambling about.

"Oi, Teaspoon," Luffy said, putting his face close to Claire's chest, soon putting his hands there and squeezing, "did you get smaller?"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME YOU ASSHOLE!" Claire shouted, kicking all three of them away with a girlish scream, which in turn woke up Sanji who franticly searched for the beautiful voice.

Sadly, Usopp had been knocked into one of the nearby tables, which had six, large, buff (or fat) men sitting there. The one Usopp bumped into turned around and laid eyes on Claire, pretty soon grabbing her and telling her she needed to pay them back with her body. Claire squirmed, but even if she was a Chas look alike, she didn't have the pirate Captain's knowledge in fights. Sanji was soon to her rescue in less than a second and kicked the men away from her, but not knocking them out for good.

Thus, the "Blue Gill" brawl ensued before Zoro stepped through the door a few minutes later.


	20. Chapter 20

After the fight at the "Blue Gill" bar, the Straw Hats had managed to escape back to the Thousand Sunny with Princess Claire being kept hostage. She struggled, having gotten no explanation, just multiple apologies from Sanji (since he was the one carrying her _and _the one receiving her heavy punches to the face. This left Sanji bed ridden when they had all gotten back).

"So, your friend, Chas, has been taking my place as Princess of Esturea for the past few days?" Claire repeated, letting all the words sink in after Nami explained. "And if I don't return by Friday, she'll be married off to Prince Willis in my stead?"

"That's what we've been told," Franky said, crossing his large arms.

"Will you go back?" Zoro asked, narrowing his eyes at the Princess.

"Not a chance," Claire said, crossing her arms stubbornly and looking away from everyone. She was a child and acted like one.

"You're just going to leave Teaspoon there?" Luffy said, leaning forward on his chair.

"Look, I didn't _ask _her to take my place," Claire said, standing to her feet. "If you really think about it, this situation is all her fault." Clair walked to the door, ignoring all the glares she was getting. "She's the one that got caught; she's the one that agreed to take my place; and she's the one that sent you to find me." Clair opened the door and looked back at everyone. "Well I'm not going back!"

Princess Claire was about to run for it, but Luffy has stretched out his arms and stopped her before she could do so. His arms wrapped around her, keeping her tied. She struggled, even bit the rubber man a few times, but he didn't let go.

"Let me go!" she screamed.

"You're just going to leave her there?!" Luffy shouted at Princess Claire, shocking her. "Shouldn't a Princess correct her mistakes and try making the situation better instead of having someone else take the fall?!"

"Is that how you solve all your problems?" Zoro asked, leaning against the wall and closing his eye. "You don't deserve a crown if that's the case."

Princess Claire looked down, sniffing and trying to hold back her tears. They had a point, she was no princess if she thought she could solve her problems by running away from them. Then again, when did she ever want to be a princess?

"I'm sorry," Princess Claire cried, which shocked everyone around her. They all figured that she would be like Chas and argue back, giving good reasons for her actions, but she wasn't. "I was afraid…"

"Afraid of what?" Chopper asked, giving the girl a handkerchief, which she took gladly.

"I was afraid of Prince Willis's plan when he got ahold of the crown…" Claire continued. She dabbed her tears and looked up to the others. "You see, once the wedding is over, the new King will hand over the crown to the new King." Claire folded her hands in her lap. "One evening when I was walking around the castle, I overheard Prince Willis talking to his butler about their plan. Once Willis becomes the King, he'll ruin this place."

* * *

Chas sighed as she walked down the hallway towards the Throne room, having been called to see the King once again. She had walked around the castle multiple times, and she could understand why Princess Claire would want to run away from the place (if that was the actual reason). Chas hated it there: rules, manners, no alcohol, and the corsets. It was disaster! To make things worse, she always had to wear a long glove to cover her armor and wasn't permitted to use her Devil Fruit powers under any circumstances (or there was punishment from the maids, which she didn't enjoy).

Chas suddenly stopped walking and looked out the window. Having been able to see port from where she stood, she could clearly make out the Thousand Sunny sitting there. _Hurry, Strawhat._

* * *

"I knew that damn Prince was hiding something!" Sanji shouted, slamming his fist down against the table. He had received the full story from Princess Claire when he had woken up, and reacted just how everyone suspected: freaking out. "We should hurry to the castle!"

"Not yet," Nami said, stopping everyone from leaving. "We won't be able to get in the castle. Everyone thinks that Princess Claire is still at the castle, and from the way the King wanted us thrown out last time, he didn't want us knowing about this."

"So," Usopp said, "we have no way of getting inside."

"Guess Dango didn't think that far ahead…" Zoro said.

"Claire!" Luffy shouted, clasping her hands in his, which made her face light up. "Can you get us into the castle?"

"O-Of course," Claire said, smiling as she began to explain how she was going to get them into the castle.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Chas shouted, shocking the King and the two maids standing at the sidelines. "Yer holding the royal weddin' tonight?! I thought ya said-"

"I know what I said, Miss Chas," the King said. "But this wasn't my decision, Prince Willis has requested that the wedding be held tonight. Due to recent activity in his country, he has to return home tomorrow and will not be able to return until late the next week."

"Then hold the weddin' then!" Chas shouted. "I'm not Claire! Ya can't just marry _me _off instead of yer daughter because she's missin'!" Chas grabbed the King's shirt and pulled him up from the throne. "Cancel this engagement!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the King said, getting himself free from Chas's grasp. "The wedding must be held this evening, like scheduled, and no later. I'm sorry, Miss Chas, but you must fill in for my daughter."

Chas was silent, she knew it was useless to argue with the man. The only thought that could run through her mind as the maids dragged her off to get her dressed was, _Luffy, where the hell are ya?_

* * *

_The Evening, roughly around nine:_

Chas hated the color white, no matter how much she looked at it she would always hate it. The only thing it ever looked good on was flags and skulls, and even skulls weren't white all the way. But a white dress didn't suit her, nor would it ever. She's a pirate, she wasn't meant to wear white.

"Why is everything this Princess wears tight?" Chas mumbled to herself, trying to stretch the white dress as much as she could. With Chas's chest being so large (even with the corset), and Princess Claire's being fairly small, everything Chas wore of Claire's was tight. She hated it beyond belief.

"Princess?"

Chas looked to the door when she heard the knock. The door opened at the maid standing there bowed before saying, "Thirty minutes before we're ready." Chas didn't say anything, nor could she because the maid has already shut the door and left Chas alone again.

Chas sighed and laid on the bed, wrinkling the white dress. "Such a pain in the ass…"

There was a sound of scratching, then shouting, and suddenly a loud bang of opening doors filled her ears. Chas sat up quickly and looked around, only to see the doors to the balcony were open and laying on the floor were all her friends: Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Brook (Franky stayed with the ship, since he was far too large to sneak into the castle).

"Guys!" Chas shouted, running to hug anyone of them. It just turns out the first person she latched onto was Brook, who spun her around while laughing cheerfully. He then dipped her and kissed her on the cheek, which infuriated Sanji. Strangely, Zoro was a bit ticked off as well at seeing this.

"Ya really came!" Chas said, helping the others stand. "Did ya find-" Chas stopped talking when she met eyes with Claire. She and Claire looked at each other for a while, touching each other's faces, stomachs, even breasts at some point, before Chas turned to looked at the others, raising an eyebrow. "Ya really can't say this child looks like me, can ya?"

"This old hag looks nothing like me!" Claire said, looking to the others also.

"Excuse me?" Chas snarled at the girl. "I'm only four years older than you!"

The two girls soon began arguing with each other, but the Straw Hats could have cared less about the argument.

"So, Claire is only sixteen?" Chopper asked, looking up to the others. They all nodded.

As the two girls' argument began getting out of hand the door to the room opened and the King walked in with the usual maids behind him as he looked over documents.

"Miss Chas, there were a few things I wanted to discuss before you-" The King looked up only to drop everything at the sight of his daughter. "Claire!"

"Daddy!" Claire shouted, hugging her father as they both cried.

_If she missed her bloody father so much why'd she run away in the first place…? _Zoro and Chas both thought, snarling at the girl.

As if knowing they had thought the same thing, Zoro and Chas looked at each other and gave their usual 'Not-so-happy-to-see-you' smile.

"Well, I'm a bit disappointed," Chas said, "I thought you'd be the first one to find her."

"You're thinking too much," Zoro said, scoffing. "I didn't care whether you came back or not."

_Weren't you the one pressing us to return the Princess as quickly as possible?! _the other Straw Hats thought as they listened to the couple bicker.

"Oh, really?" Chas said, inching in closer. "Well, if I remember correctly, weren't you the one who said 'I've missed you so much!' just the other night?"

Zoro's face turned red and he was at a loss for words. _Damn…she got me…_ But Zoro had a comeback, like usual. "I wasn't even sober that night, how the hell should I know."

"Why you little…" Before Chas was able to slug the man, Usopp and Brook had held her back.

"Come on now, Chas," Usopp said, holding her back as well as he could, "you can't hit him after all he's done to get the princess here!"

"He's right!" Brook said. "Plus you wouldn't want to ruin that dress!"

"That's right!" the King said, finally remember something important. "Miss Chas, now that my daughter is back, there is no need for you to get married in her stead." The King turned towards Claire, grabbing his daughter by the shoulders. "Now, Claire, you should-"

"No!" Claire said stubbornly, shocking her father and the two maids. "There's something I haven't told you, Daddy. Prince Willis plans to turn this kingdom into dust when he gets his hands on the crown." Claire took her father's hands in her's. "Please, Father, don't let me marry such a man!"

"Well," Chas said, cutting into the conversation, "if that's the case then we'll need to come up with a plan so that doesn't happen."

"Right!" Claire said. She soon latched onto Luffy's arm, who just began paying attention to everything. "I'll marry Luffy-san instead!"

"What?" everyone in the room said.

Luffy scratched his head and looked to Claire. "Can you cook?"

Claire looked to Luffy, smiling. "Of course not! I'm a Princess."

Luffy's expression twisted into one a displeasure. "EH?" Luffy then looked away with a sigh, shocking everyone. "I don't want to marry you…"

Chas, who for some reason, began laughing continuously, even when Princess Claire glared at her.

"Sorry, Kid," Chas said, wiping her tears, "but looks like this a _flat _relationship." Chas then began laughing even harder at her joke.

Princess Claire puffed her cheeks and looked at her chest. She then looked to Chas's and frowned. "Oh yeah, _Melons_?"

Chas stopped laughing immediately and glared at Princess Claire. "What'd ya call me?"

"You heard me, Melon Girl!" Claire shouted with a confident smirk. Pretty soon she was in a head lock by Chas who continued to grind her fist on the Princess's head, even to the King's disagreement.

"All right!" Sanji shouted, pulling them both of each other. "How about I marry the Princess instead?"

"Not a chance," Claire and Chas both said, with the same voice, expression, and pretty much everything else that Sanji loved about both of them. This meant Sanji was down for the count once again.

After a moment of thinking, Zoro spoke up. "I think I might have a plan."

"What is it?" Usopp asked, looking to the swordsman.

"How about we marry off Dango instead?"

"Shut the-" Chas cut off and thought that over for a moment. Soon enough, she had an idea of her own, which she was _dying _to do. "Actually…"

Everyone in the room listened to Chas's idea, with a few disagreements from Zoro because he was actually hoping to get rid of her, and decided that it was what they were going to do.

* * *

_Nine Thirty; Royal Courtyard:_

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered her today to celebrate the joyous matrimony of Prince Willis Sebastian Luther Justine…" the odd looking reverend, with what seemed to be fur all over his face (and not _just _the mustache), flipped a few pages in his notes and continued-"…Cartwright the Ninth and Princess Claire Joan Esturea." The reverend looked up with a smile. "Now is there anyone here who doesn't agree these two should wed?"

The courtyard was silent.

The toppling reverend looked around. "Anyone? Anyone, really?" The reverend continued to look for _someone _to say they disagreed but, sadly that person had fallen asleep of boredom behind the seats laid out in the courtyard. Which meant, there was no objection.

"Reverend Harris," Prince Willis said, looking to the strange looking reverend who looked completely different from the reverend he knew from childhood, "I do believe everyone here agrees that Claire and I should wed, now, if you will…?" Willis nodded towards the notes.

"Ah, right!" the reverend said. "Uh…" The reverend looked back to the notes, but was completely confused when the writing became illegible. He looked down in his shirt, shouting at the person he was standing on, which was Usopp. _"Who wrote these cards?!"_

"_Don't look at me, Chopper!" _Usopp whispered. _"Luffy wrote them!"_

"_Well, at this rate I don't know what to say next!"_

"Reverend Harris?" Willis said, tightening his arm around the bride next to him.

'Reverend' Chopper looked up and laughed. "Ah, sorry, I got lost. Where was I?"

"You were just about give us the 'I do's', Sir," Willis lied with a smile. He wanted everything to be over quickly.

"Ah…right…" Chopper said, throwing his notes aside. "Now, Prince Willis, do you take Claire as you lovely bride?" Chopper was completely winging it now and was going with what Usopp was telling him from below.

"I do." Willis looked to his bride, seeing her beautiful smile underneath the vale, but that was the only thing he saw.

"Do you, Claire, take this man to be your husband?" Chopper asked, looking to Claire with eyes that said 'Don't do it!'.

"I-" Before the bride was able to speak, shouting came forth from the back and a group of knights rushed in, looking frantic.

"Stop right there, Willis!" the Knight at the front shouted, pointed his sword. "We've heard about your plot to destroy the kingdom, and we're putting a stop to it!"

Everything slowly began to turn to chaos and with the large number of people in the courtyard, the Straw Hats had lost sight of Prince Willis and Princess Claire. It seems their plan had be ruined by the arrival of the Royal Knights of Esturea.

"Didn't we say 'Don't tell them'?!" Nami shouted, grabbing the King by the shirt and shaking him. "Look what you've done!"

"I didn't tell them anything, I swear!" the King shouted, having been more frightened of Nami then Chas.

Nami dropped the King and quickly ran over to Brook, who had been watching the whole thing from a high tree in the garden.

"Brook, do you know where Prince Willis went?" Nami shouted over all the other shouting in the place as people ran around crazy.

"No, but Usopp-san and Chopper-san have gotten into trouble," Brook answered franticly.

"I'll help Usopp and Chopper," Robin said, tapping Nami on the shoulder. "Go with the others to find Prince Willis."

"Right, thanks, Robin," Nami said, smiling as she raced off with Sanji by her side, dragging along Luffy and Zoro who had fallen asleep earlier.

* * *

Prince Willis continued to walk down the halls, heading towards the front gate. Once he passed the gate, he was home free.

"You haven't said a word this whole time, My Dear," Willis said towards Claire, lowering the gun that had been pressed against. "Something on your mind?"

Claire kept her mouth shut, let alone look back over her shoulder towards the devil Prince.

"No worries," Willis said, said, putting an arm around the Princess, "once we're past the gate you won't have to worry about this retched kingdom. I'll make sure you lively happily with me in my Kingdom."

Claire turned her head towards Prince Willis, but before she could give her comeback to that, the shouting from down the corridor interrupted her.

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING WITH HER?!"

Prince Willis and Princess Claire looked over their shoulders to see Sanji racing down the hall at full speed towards them, rage just emitting off of him.

Prince Willis quickly grabbed Claire and ran, managing to avoid the Chef, but that wasn't the end of his problems. Once he exited the front door of the palace, he was stopped by Nami, Luffy, and Zoro who had been waiting at the gate.

"Damn it…" Prince Willis said under her breath. He looked behind him and found out he had been cornered. He figured the blonde behind him was the person he had to deal with, but it turns out he was wrong. Dead wrong.

"Hand her over and we promise we won't mess up your face too much," Zoro said, giving a sadistic smile as he cracked his knuckles. He took a step forward, along with Luffy, Nami, and Sanji from behind, but they stopped walking when Prince Willis took his gun and pointed it to Claire's head.

"Any more steps and I'll kill her right here!" Willis said, smiling confidently. "You wouldn't want that, right?" Willis chuckled. "I wouldn't have a problem killing her. I could always find another wife with just as much power and wealth as her."

"So you were in it for the crown, just like Claire said," Nami said.

Willis glanced to his bride and then backed to the others. "Yes, originally I was in it for the crown and the wealth, but once I laid eyes on Claire I knew I must have her." Willis put a hand under Claire's chin and stroked it. "She is quite the beauty, what man wouldn't want a beautiful Queen by his side to raise an even more lovely family?"

"Shut your mouth," Sanji snarled. "I don't want to hear you say those things about her."

"Really?" Willis said, looking back to Sanji. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"He won't do anythin'." Willis looked to Claire to see her pulling back her vale. Once the vale was off, she looked right at him with a wicked smile. "But I can't promise I won't."

"And what will you do, Claire?" Willis said, smiling. "Are you going to-" Willis was cut off by Claire punching him in the face and knocking him back a few steps. Willis put a hand to his face, feeling blood drip from his nose. Since when did Claire have such a rough punch?

"First off," Claire said, taking off her white gloves and throwing them aside (which meant throwing them in Zoro's face), revealing the gold armor that had been wanting to see the sun for a very long time, "who the hell would marry someone like you in the first place?! Second"-Willis was grabbed by the collar and pulled to his feet-"do you realize how much crap I had been put through these past few days because of you?!" The girl's eyes narrowed dangerously. "After all that, I might just decide to shoot you."

"Oi, Chas!" Luffy wined. "He asked not to get hit in the face!"

Chas, who had been taking Claire's place during the wedding, glared at Luffy and the others. But that glare soon left and she was left with a frown. She let go of Willis, making him fall to the ground, and walked away towards the others.

Willis laughed. "So, for the past few days, I've been getting deceived." Willis stood to his feet and looked at Chas's back. "I knew women were liars."

Chas froze, and Willis soon ended up regretting what he had said when she turned around to look at him (even Nami and Sanji were furious with him, which just made this ten times worse).

Let's just say, Willis wasn't able to say anything for a really long time after that.

* * *

"I'm so glad we're gone from that crazy place," Chas sighed, snuggling up in the grass of the Thousand Sunny as it began sailing away from Esturea. After many heartfelt good-byes and a shocking love confession from Claire to Luffy, the Straw Hats were back at sea to find their mysterious treasure.

"I just can't believe you got found out after your first day," Usopp said, crossing his arms. "I thought you would be better than that."

"It wasn't my fault a maid had found about me," Chas laughed. "I'm just happy it wasn't Willis's butler or the Prince himself standing at the door.

"What I can't believe is that the King didn't give us anything for helping," Nami cried, slamming her head against the table. She had wanted the royal treasure badly, but even with all her begging, but the King only gave his thanks and left it at that.

"Hey, Nami," Luffy said, walking up, "what should I do with the big sake then?"

"Just throw it somewhere," Nami sighed.

"Okay," Luffy said shrugging and throwing the object over in a corner. When it landed on the ground, the sound a shattering glass could be heard, which drew everyone's attention towards the bag.

"What was in the bag, Luffy?" Zoro asked, crossing his arms.

"Oh," Luffy said, smiling brightly as he scratched his head, "Claire said she wanted to give me something before we left, so she gave me the crystal ball that was on the King's stick thing."

Everyone blinked blankly at Luffy.

"AND YOU JUST THREW IT?!" Nami shouted, grabbing Luffy by the throat.

"You told me to throw it somewhere, so I did!" Luffy said.

Thus, everything was back to normal, for the time being.

* * *

**Not the ending you were expecting for this series of chapters, but I was getting bored of the Princess thing, so I ended it with the best way I could possibly think up. I do hope you enjoyed anyway and I look forward to hearing from you all, or just seeing you next chapter!**

**Thanks for the support and see ya next time!**

**Might I add, this was over 4,000 words, so just appreciate it anyway, even if it was bad.**


	21. Chapter 21

"Mochi~!"

Zoro frowned and scowled when he heard Chas's voice interrupting his nice dream. Why was she bothering him? Wasn't there anything she could do on a nice sunny day, and when they were stopped on a nice, deserted, island too?

"Mochi, wake up!" Chas's voice said again.

This time Zoro was shaken and poked, but he refused to open his eye and see her staring at him. For some reason, just thinking that she was watching him right now made him feel uneasy.

"Zoro!" Chas was now whining, really wanting him to get up.

Never once had she said his name properly, until now. She had always called him by those stupid nicknames she always insisted on.

"We're getting attacks by Navy officers, wake up!" Chas shouted.

Zoro immediately sat up after that, but when he looked around there was no Navy officers, nor ships, anywhere in sight. He looked to Chas to see her smiling, confidently. "Great, yer awake!"

Zoro's eye flinched when she said that. "What do you want?"

Chas leaned forward, which made him feel even more uneasy then before. "I want you to teach me how to swim!"

"Eh?" That was all Zoro could say to that. She was an anchor, there was no way she could swim, ever. Well, unless there was a way to get rid of Devil Fruit abilities, but there isn't.

Zoro looked over Chas, seeing she was in her multicolored bikini and fully serious about wanting to swim.

"Go ask someone else," Zoro said, before turning his back towards Chas and getting comfortable again. Although, with his chest and stomach in knots again, he wasn't as comfortable as he hoped. Let alone his face was heating up which didn't help either.

"Not goin' to happen!" Chas said, rolling the swordsman over to look at her. "Everyone else is busy with other things. Yer the only one who's not doin' somethin'."

Zoro sighed and closed his eye again, not wanting to look at her anymore. "Then wait until they're _not _busy! I don't have time for this…"

"Yeah, ya do!" Chas said, pulling Zoro up by the collar, which surprised him greatly. "All ya do is lay on deck and sleep!"

Zoro glared at Chas and she glared right back. She wasn't going to back down, which meant he either ignored her the rest of the day or did as she asked, and ignoring her would be rather difficult.

"If I teach you, will you leave me alone?" Zoro asked with a sigh.

"Yes," Chas said, nodding. "I swear on my grave that I will leave you alone _after _I learn how to swim."

Zoro stood to his feet. "Good. Then let's get started."

Chas quickly got to her feet and cheered with glee. She hugged Zoro, thanking him multiple times for agreeing to teach her, but Zoro could have cared less about the thanks and hugs, he was just too frightened by her sudden amiability towards him.

"All right, what do we do first?" Chas asked.

"First…" Zoro picked up Chas, slinging her over his shoulder, and walked towards the edge of the ship.

"W-Wait! Put me down you damn swordsman!" Chas screamed, drawing attention from all the others on deck or somewhere nearby on the island's beach. "What are you doin'?!"

"First, you need to get used to the water," Zoro said. Zoro then threw Chas over the edge of the ship and into the water down below, shocking _everyone _who was watching.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Zoro?!" Usopp shouted with Chopper as they ran over to the edge of the ship to see Chas was laying in the water, eyes closed and mumbling about how tired she was already.

"How's you know the water wasn't that deep here?" Usopp questioned.

"I didn't," Zoro answered as he walked away, scratching his head with a yawn.

"You could have killed her!" the two shouted at the swordsman. Zoro simply shrugged and ignored the rest of the shouting.

* * *

Zoro now sat on the beach, watching as Chas continued to splash around in the water with, probably, the brightest smile he had seen on her face ever. But instead of making the green haired swordsman get all warm and fuzzy, it ticked him off.

_Why'd I agree to this…? _Zoro pondered to himself, scowling as he continued to watch the girl play around. Zoro sighed as he rested his chin on his palm. _There goes my day of relaxation…_

"Look, Mochi!" Chas shouted, waving to Zoro as she, sort of, paddled around. "I'm swimmin'! I'm actually swimmin'!"

"You're on a damn floaty!" Zoro shouted. "Of course you're able to swim with that thing!"

"So?" Chas frowned. "I'm still swimmin'!" Chas continued to splash and play around, until she began feeling her energy drain rather slowly and she was left lying on the floaty. "Ugh…so tired…"

Zoro simply rubbed his face and when he looked up when he heard laughing behind him.

"How's swimming practice?" Robin asked, crossing her arms with a large smile on her face.

Zoro's scowl deepened and he didn't say anything, until Sanji came up and said, "Why'd she ask you anyway?"

"Better than asking you, Ero-chef," Zoro said, smirking confidently.

Sanji took the platter he was holding and hit Zoro in the head with it. Thus, the usual arguing between them ensued, which soon turned into a fighting battle which ruined most of the beach. The only thing that stopped the two was when Chopper said, "Hey, where's Chas?"

Sanji, Zoro, and Robin turned their heads towards the water to see the purple floaty Chas had been using was now floating further and further away from the beach. Two people of the group were horrified when they saw this, but Zoro simply sighed again and scratched his head.

"I told her to stay away from the deep end of the water…" Zoro mumbled. Zoro expected this to continue happening the rest of the day, saying as she had fallen into the water more than her could remember. She just never listened.

"I'll get her," Sanji said, walking into the water and soon diving into the deep side to fetch Chas. It didn't take him more than a minute to get Chas and bring her back to shore, where Chas then continued to cry into Robin's arms about not being able to swim.

* * *

"How's this supposed to help any, Black Leg?" Chas asked, turning her head to Sanji who had taken Zoro's place for the time being. He had his hands on her waist, keeping her floating on the water.

"Well, if you know how to float then you'll learn how to swim ten times faster," Sanji said, smiling.

"Oh," Chas said looking back towards the sky, watching the clouds pass by. Her eyes began getting heavy and she was losing focus on everything.

"Chas-san?" Sanji urged. "How are you holding up?"

"I don't feel so good…" Chas mumbled.

Sanji quickly lifted Chas out of the water and held her, still smiling. "How are you feeling now?"

"Better!" Chas cheered, having gotten her energy back immediately.

While the whole transaction between Chas and Sanji occurred, Zoro watched from the sidelines beginning to feel more and more ticked off. Looking Sanji fondle over Chas and Chas not minding just annoyed him. He could hear her giggling and laughing from where he sat.

"Something wrong, Zoro-san?" Brook asked, noticing the frowning swordsman sitting there on the beach as he walked by.

"Hm?" Zoro looked up and then away once seeing it was Brook behind him. "Ah, nothing's wrong."

"Are you sure?" Brook pressed. "Something seems to be bothering you." Brook noticed where Zoro was continuing to look and followed his gaze towards Chas and Sanji. The skeleton then knew what was going on. "Ah…I see… Wait…I don't have eyes." Brook then laughed at his 'skull joke' but soon got back on topic. "Zoro-san?"

Zoro looked back over his shoulder towards Brook.

"Do you, perhaps, have feelings for Chas-san?" Brook asked. Brook soon regretted his question when Zoro glared right at him as if saying, 'How the hell did you come up with that conclusion?' Which made Brook wonder if Zoro was hiding his feeling for Chas or just hadn't full discovered them. Then again, the two were on pretty bad terms, so made Brook was actually wrong.

"Well, of course he has feelings for her."

Both Zoro and Brook looked over to see Luffy sitting on a nearby rock, having been listening to the conversation.

"Teaspoon's nakama, right?" Luffy said, tilting his head. "Why wouldn't Zoro have feelings for her?"

"Uh…Luffy-san, I wasn't-" Before Brook could continue, he found a coconut in his mouth, keeping him from talking. Brook soon took out the coconut and glared at Zoro, furious. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Ah, sorry," Zoro said monotonously, "I thought you were done talking." Zoro soon took back the coconut and threw it, hitting Sanji right on the head and making both the blonde and red head in his arms fall into the water. Zoro then quickly got Chas from the water and dragged her back to shore to the shade.

"I feel dizzy…" Chas mumbled, her eyes spinning.

Brook, Luffy, Zoro, and now Chopper, who had joined them after hearing all the shouting, bent over Chas to see if she was okay.

"Too much water?" Luffy questioned.

"No," Chopper said, frowning, "she's got heatstroke. It's best to leave her be for a while."

"And what about Sanji-san?" Brook asked, pointing out towards the water to the unconscious chef who was still dreaming of holding his dear Chas.

"He'll be fine," everyone said, returning back to what they had been doing for the past few hours.

* * *

"She's still upset?" Usopp asked, looking towards Chopper and Luffy.

"Seems like it," Chopper said.

The three turned to Zoro, who was relaxing in his usual spot on deck and said, "This is all your fault…"

"Quit blaming me already," Zoro said.

"Then fix this!" Nami said, grabbing Zoro by the collar and pulling him up. She then shoved him towards the corner Chas was sitting in.

Zoro looked back over his shoulder to them, but they just kept waving at him to go towards her. _Why do I have to do this? _Zoro thought as he walked over.

"Oi, Taiyaki," Zoro said, trying to get Chas's attention. She didn't turn around. "Oi!" Zoro put a hand on Chas's shoulder, but soon took his hand back when Chas fell over.

"He killed her!" Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper shouted.

"I didn't kill her!" Zoro shouted back at them. He sighed and looked to Chas. "She's asleep…"

"Oh…" Usopp and Luffy looked to each other and soon smiled mischievously.

* * *

_Next Day:_

"Who the hell did this?!" Chas shouted at the three who were sitting on their knees in front of her. She held out her arm to show all the doodles drawn on it. Luckily it was only on her arm and not anywhere else.

"It was him," Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp said, all pointing to different people: Luffy to Zoro, Zoro to Usopp, and Usopp to Luffy.

Chas's eyes twitched in frustration. "Since I don't know _which _one of ya did this…I'll just have to punish all of ya…"

The three gulped, not looking forward to what she had in store for them.

* * *

**A bit OOC on Zoro's part (a most of the others) but there are A LOT of characters to write for. Anyway, I wanted to do a fun chapter before getting back to the main plot/arc thingy. Hope you enjoyed and I look forward to seeing you next chapter!**

**Thank you for the support!**


	22. Chapter 22

"So?" Chas said, biting down on her cigarette. "What's the diagnostic, Doc?" Chas looked at Franky, as did the rest of the crew, when he walked out of the Energy Room.

"She's fried," Franky said with a sigh. "It would take a while to fix, but it can be done."

"I always figured the Sunny couldn't get fried," Luffy said, scratching his head.

"It's only because it never happened until now," Zoro said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall.

"How long do you think it'll take to fix?" Nami asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Two, three hours at most," Franky answered, honestly. "That's with two sets of hands."

At the moment, the Straw Hats had come up with some problems with the engine after having to escape from Smoker a few times, who had found them soon the next day after they left the deserted island. The group was attacked, dealing heavy damage (sadly and to everyone's astonishment) and managed to escape before the ship's engine fried.

"How long do you think we have until Smoker finds us again?" Brook asked, looking to Chas.

"He won't," Chas said, blowing out more smoke. "We most likely lost Ojiki when the fog came rollin' in, so we should be good now." Chas put a hand to her chin, having some doubt left about whether her Uncle would find them or not, but she shrugged it off soon enough. "Franky, how much time do ya think it'd take with three pairs of hands?"

Franky looked at Chas. "It'd cut the time I just gave in half."

"Why are you asking, Chas?" Nami said. "None of us are that experienced with machines like Usopp and Franky are."

"I am," Chas said, looking at Nami. "When I was a teenager I worked as a mechanic's assistant for some time before heading to sea." Chas let out another puff of smoke. "I know a few things about machines and I'm sure I can help with a fried engine."

"All right," Luffy said, "we'll leave the engine to Teaspoon, Usopp, and Franky."

"We'll keep an eye out for Smoker and his fleet," Zoro said, beginning to walk out with the others, "just in case they find us again."

"We'll hold them off as long as you need," Sanji said, patting Chas's shoulder as he followed everyone.

"Right," Chas, Franky, and Usopp said.

Chas hoped off the railing and followed Franky and Usopp to the engine room where she saw the worst state the engine could have been in.

"This is more than a fried engine, Franky!" Chas shouted at the cyborg.

"Guess we took more damage than we thought," Usopp said, crossing his arms.

"No time for talking," Franky said, tossing both a pair of tools. "Let's get to work!"

* * *

_After a while:_

Everyone was back on deck, managing to get a break from the repairs and watching out for Smoker's fleet. It seemed that with all the fog, the Navy fleet had gotten lost and were unable to find the Straw Hats, which was lucky for them.

"Chas-san!" Sanji sang, walking over Chas with her usual bottle of heavy alcohol. "I've brought-uh…" Sanji stopped when he noticed something in Chas's hands, a bird from the likes. "What are you holding?"

"Oh," Chas said, looking back over her shoulder, "I found him hiding in a barrel nearby." Chas smiled cheerfully. "I figured he came from the abandoned island we found a little while back." Chas then turned serious and put a hand to her chin. "I was wondering if he was edible."

Sanji put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment, looking at the bird. He then began talking about different ways the bird could be cooked, which seemed to frighten the bird a bit. At first he was saying they could fry it, then he went onto saying it would be better stuffed and then roasted.

"Wow…" Chas said, after listening to all the different ways you could cook such a simple animal. "Yer really smart about this kind of thing…"

Sanji blushed and laughed. "Oh, you're praising me too much, Chas-san."

"No, really," Chas said, smiling, "ya remind me a lot of the chef I had on my ship. Except, I don't think he was as much of an expert as you are, Black Leg."

At the moment Chas said that, Zoro was walking back, going towards his spot to sleep. But when he heard Chas praising the perverted chef, he couldn't help but feel ticked off. He looked to the two and saw the bird.

"What the hell is that?" Zoro asked.

Chas looked up and narrowed her eyes at Zoro. "It's a bird, Mochi. Haven't ya seen of before?"

Zoro glared at Chas. "Of course I've seen a bird! I'm not as stupid as you, Anmitsu!" Zoro looked back at the bird. "Just get rid of the things already!"

"No!" Chas said, stubbornly, tightening her hands around the bird. "I found it!"

The two started arguing about whether they should keep the bird or not. Soon enough Sanji was in the argument, agreeing with Chas that she could do whatever she wanted with the bird. But with all the arguing, the bird began getting frightened and was practically getting crushed by Zoro and Chas's hands. It decided to take precautions and it screamed, drawing the couple's attention, and soon spit in their faces. The bird then flew away.

* * *

The next day as the ship continued to try getting out of the fog, everyone was woken up to screaming. The Straw Hats quickly got to deck and were surprised to see Chas and Zoro arguing so early in the morning.

"How the hell did this happen?!" Zoro shouted at Chas.

"How should I know?!" Chas shouted back.

"I know ya did somethin', Marimo!" Zoro shouted once again, raising the eyebrows of ever member listening.

"Shut up, Anpan!" Chas shouted. "How would I do something?!"

"I don't know!"

"Hold it!" Nami shouted, pulling the two apart before they drew weapons. "What's going on here?"

"How should we know?" the two shouted, crossing their arms and looking away from each other.

Nami sighed and rubbed her face. "Fine…" She turned to Chas. "Why are you two arguing, Chas?"

"I'm not Chas," Chas said, "that's the problem."

"What are you saying?" Usopp laughed, waving his hand in front of his face. "Of course you're-"

"No, he's not," Zoro said, drawing everyone's attention. "I'm Chas."

The Straw Hats were befuddled, wondering what exactly they were supposed to do. It seemed like a big joke.

"We've somehow switched bodies," both said, scratching their heads.


	23. Chapter 23

**Note for this chapter (and maybe for later): Chas is in Zoro's body and Zoro is in Chas's body, but I will be calling them by their names (not by the body they're in). So, just so you don't get confused.**

**I also want to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews, I love that you love this fic because I love writing it, and I thank you for the wonderful support.**

**Onto the chapter!**

* * *

"I don't understand how women can move around with these things!" Zoro shouted, grabbing Chas's chest. Well, _his _chest at the moment. "They're so…springy and heavy!"

Chas glared at Zoro with a small blush on her cheeks, well, _Zoro's _cheeks in her case.

"Don't grope my body like that!" she shouted. She then smirked. "How would you feel if I groped _yer _body like that?" Zoro just returned the glare towards her, not liking the image of her groping him in his…you get the picture.

Chase and Zoro stopped glaring at each other and looked down at their new bodies for the moment.

"I can't see how you could stand this…" they both said with a small sigh.

"Well," Brook said with a smile towards Zoro, "think of the bright side. You can now see a woman naked without any consequences."

Chas hit Brook on top of the head, making him fall to the ground with a bump enlarging on his temple.

"IDIOT!" Chas shouted, her face reddening even more.

"That's actually a very good point…" Usopp, Luffy, Chopper, and Franky said, imagining being able to be in Chas's body and having the ability to go in the shower without any consequences.

Sanji snarled to himself, having just recovered from his nosebleed which had been caused by too much perverted thoughts. "Damn…lucky son of a…"

"Who's lucky?!" Zoro shouted face going red. He, once again, grabbed Chas's breasts in his hands. "These…things get in the way of everything!"

"Don't grab Chas's abundant chest like that!" Sanji shouted, trying hard not to punch the man. "You're hands aren't even fit to touching her!"

Zoro glared at Sanji and Sanji glared right back.

"I feel so…" Chas began, collapsing into a chair. "I feel so…violated…" Chas then covered her face with her new hands and screamed. "I don't see how men can stand having something constantly in-between their legs!"

Most of the faces around turned red at Chas's shout, not having the guts to say anything about it in fear of embarrassing her further.

"How can women stand having these things on their chests all the time?" Zoro grumbled, trying to cross his arms, but his new breasts just got in the way every time. "We need to change back…quickly…"

"Agreed…" Chas said. "I don't know how long I can stay like this…"

"How did you two change in the first place?" Nami asked, looking both of them over.

"It must have been that bird from yesterday," Sanji said.

"Bird?" Chopper questioned. "What bird?"

"Daifuku found a bird yesterday," Zoro said, sitting down next to Chas, who was still in despair. "The bird spit in our faces and then flew off."

"In other words, option A is out of the question," Chas mumbled to herself. "Damn bird…"

"I have one question?" Luffy said, raising his hand. Everyone looked at him. "How are you two going to poop?"

Nami put a hand to her face, still wondering why her idiot captain always had to ask that.

"Or get changed?" Usopp asked next.

"Or fight?" Chopper asked after the two idiots.

"That's a good question," Robin said, crossing her arms and placing a hand to her chin. "What will happen if we run into trouble and need their help?"

"True…" Franky said. "Ikasu doesn't know how to fight with swords and Zoro doesn't know how to use Chas's devil fruit."

"I'm more worried about the bathroom and changing situation," Chas said. "That's going to tend to be more of a problem then the fighting situation."

Nami scratched her head and sighed, re-crossing her arms. "I guess I'll check the library, see if there's anything about that bird up there." Nami then began walking off.

"I think I'll help," Robin said. She passed by Chas and gave her a friendly pat on the head before leaving with Nami to find any information on this predicament.

"What do we do?" Zoro asked, finally learning that he could cross his arms as long as it's under Chas's large bust.

"Uh…" everyone mumbled, looking at each other.

"Why not try teaching each other how to fight?" Brook suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Usopp said, smiling. "You can teach each other how to fight, right?"

Zoro and Chas looked at each other, then looked away sighing. "I guess…"

* * *

"Put your back into it!" Zoro shouted at Chas.

"I'm tryin'!" Chas shouted at Zoro. Chas swung the sword again, but Zoro quickly blocked it and sent her back again.

"This is embarrassing that you can't do this," Zoro said, cocking a hip.

"Yer saying _this _is embarrassin'?!" Chas shouted. "I find it rather embarrassin' that ya had to take off my shirt! Aren't ya embarrassed at seein' by body like that?!"

"It's nothing I haven't seen before," Zoro answered. This was an honest answer since he _had _walked in on her in the bathroom a few times.

Chas had hoped his answer would have been a 'Yes' or 'Sorry, I didn't realize'. She didn't like watching Zoro walk around in the gym in her body without a shirt, lucky for Chas he hadn't stripped completely.

"Also," Zoro said, looking to Chas, "what's so wrong with me walkin' around in your body without a shirt but you can walk around in mine without one?"

"Ya never wear shirts to begin with!" Chas shouted at him.

"I do so!" Zoro countered.

"When?"

"Yesterday!"

"That was for two minutes!"

"I still wore one!"

"That doesn't count, Warabimochi!"

"It does too, Anmitsu!"

"Just shut up, Marimo!"

"You should take your own advice, Anpan!"

"And you should take yours, Broken Sword!"

Zoro laughed. "Run out of insults?"

"Not at all, Hentai," Chas said, smirking.

As the two continued to argue, Nami and Robin could hear them from the Library. Nami noticed how the two were arguing more than usual and knew it was because the two didn't like the predicament they were in.

"I wonder how long this is going to last?" Nami pondered.

"I might have found something that could help," Robin said, walking over to the desk. She placed the book down and pointed to the picture of a fat bodied bird with a long, skinny, neck leading to head like looked like a peach with big round eyes. Under the picture were the words "Actual Size".

"Do you think this is the bird?" Nami questioned.

"It's the only bird I could find that had purple and yellow feather in the way Chas-san described," Robin answered. "From what I read, the bird's spit has the ability to switch people or things. Usually the animal only uses it when it's in danger."

"So, Chas and Zoro argued about getting rid of the bird, and it felt like it was being harmed so it spit at them, which switch them," Nami concluded.

"That's right," Robin said smiling. "The book also said the switch only lasts four days, so as long as they can survive without killing each other until then, everything will be all right."

"I don't know about that," Nami laughed. "It seems like we're asking too much for them _not _to fight."

Robin grinned and giggled a bit, as if knowing something Nami didn't know. "Oh, I'm sure everything will be all right."

Nami simply smiled, hoping Robin was right.

* * *

**Okay, you're probably wondering why I've uploaded three time today. Reason why, is because the first chapter (Chapter 21 I believe) was uploaded a bit after midnight, then I uploaded Chapter 22 this afternoon, and then this chapter close to midnight.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello everyone! Here's another chapter for today! I'm glad you all enjoyed the multiple updates, but they will only happen rarely (probably when I really enjoy writing chapters, which happens…sometimes I guess). Anyway, I noticed that in a chapter I wrote previously I said "Navy" and no one pointed it out but I realized the mistake, and I want to correct myself, because ya know…it's hard when the anime says one thing and then the manga says another thing and then your brain says another. That was a run on sentence in case you didn't notice… Back on point, I know it's "marines" and thank you everyone who didn't point it out (which was "0" and I'm so proud of you guys!).**

**Also, in the first chapter I stated that this story will have "small sexual innuendos" and I'd like to change that, we're all teenagers here, not children (well, maybe a few children…who knows, I don't know how old all of you are!). So, there will be blunt statements, and large innuendos instead of small one like planned before, as you should know by now because of last chapter with Chas's statement about…uh…never mind…**

**Another thing, to the reviewer known as Yuukie-chan: I wasn't planning on doing the Punk Hazard Ark in this story, but now that you've said something I might consider it after a few more chapters or if we get more followers for the story. Right now we're at 28 and if it gets to 30 I'll consider doing it. OR if enough people ask me to do it. It's just when you write chapters based off of the actual chapter and add an OC in, it's kind of difficult keeping the OC known in the story (trust me, I know cuz I did it in a Detective Conan fic). Also, if it's easier to type in French, go right ahead, I could always translate it or something later, whatever is best for you. Also, I'm glad you like Chas.**

**ANYWAY, after all that, onto the chapter!**

* * *

Everyone was sitting at the table, ready to start breakfast, but there were two people missing from the group.

"Where are Zoro and Chas?" Nami asked, looking around.

"Who knows?" Luffy said, stuffing his face already. "I hadn't seen Zoro since this morning."

Soon the door to the kitchen opened with a loud bang and Chas, along with Zoro, walked in. The Straw Hats sitting at the table all cringed at the baggy eyes and pale faces both had, knowing that the two got no sleep the night before.

"Are you two all right?" Usopp asked, shocked. "You two look dead."

"I feel dead…" Chas mumbled, sitting at the table with Zoro next to her. Both soon slammed their heads into the table, beginning to snore.

"Don't sleep at the table!" Sanji shouted, hitting the head in which he assumed was Zoro's.

"OW!" Chas screamed, rubbing her head.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Chas-san!" Sanji cried, realizing his mistake.

"Nice going, Shitty Cook," Zoro said, sitting up and rubbing his face.

After everything had been sorted through with everyone, they all began eating.

"What is this?" Zoro said, looking at the breakfast Chas placed in front of him.

"Breakfast," Chas said, eating her eggs merrily. That morning's breakfast was eggs, meat (loads for Luffy), fruits, and some veggies (which were mostly carrots from the looks).

"_That _is not breakfast," Zoro replied, glaring at her. "All it is, is fruits, veggies, and a little meat. Where are the eggs?"

Chas ignored Zoro once more, taking another bite of her breakfast.

"Chas's is allergic, Idiot," Sanji said, walking by and setting down another plate.

"She's also allergic to tomatoes and cucumbers," Chopper said in-between bites.

"I'm not allergic to those…" Chas mumbled. "I just don't like them…" Chas continued to eat her breakfast happily. After a moment of enjoying the eggs she could never eat until now, she turned her head to look at Zoro, who was eating the breakfast she gave him without complaint.

"I have a quick question," Brook said, setting down his cup of morning tea. He looked over to the two body switchers, raising a finger to prove a point. "How did you two manage to change clothes and stuff?"

Zoro and Chas froze, which was obvious to everyone. Their faces paled considerable as if they had just seen something so terrifying that they couldn't even speak about it.

"Don't tell me…" Nami said, gasping and placing a hand over her mouth. "You two…"

"You two changed by yourselves?" Usopp questioned, dropping his fork.

"It was the only thing we could do!" Chas stammered, making her face go red.

"Actually, there were a few things we could have done," Zoro said, "but it's just better that we changed on our own."

"I bet you're just saying that because you wanted to see Chas-san naked!" Sanji shouted at Zoro, trying desperately to not punch the swordsman who was stuck in his beloved's body.

"I'm not a pervert like you," Zoro said, smirking.

Sanji soon had to turn away, having the horrible thought that the female smirk was actually really hot and quite a turn on, but he had to remind himself that Zoro was the one smirking at him, not Chas. This made Sanji rather sick and he had to leave the room quickly.

"Wait," Luffy said after finishing off a meat leg, "so Chas saw Zoro's body naked and Zoro saw Chas's body naked, right?"

"That's pretty much what they're saying," Franky said, finishing off his bottle of Cola. "Gotta do what'cha gotta do I guess." Franky then laughed at his small, non-humorous joke, making the others just wonder what he, and Robin shockingly, found so amusing about the matter.

"What's so wrong about that?" Luffy asked innocently, looking to Nami. "Isn't it normal for nakama to see each other that way?"

"No, it's not!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper all shouted.

"Ah, but the chance to see that wonderful figure…" Brook said, sighing with a perverted smile.

Soon everyone's bickering and jokes ended when Chas suddenly stabbed her fork into the table, got up, and left soon after.

"I think that might have been too far…" Robin said, looking at the door, worried.

"Don't worry," Zoro said, placing his silverware on the empty plate, "she'll get over it." Zoro then got up and walked out in search of Chas.

* * *

"Don't you think that was a bit overboard?"

Chas looked back over her broad shoulder to see her body, or Zoro, walking towards her. "I don't see what was so overboard about it." She looked back in front of her, giving a small sigh as she hunched over, rubbing her body's head.

Zoro stuffed his hands into the tight pockets of the shots he was wearing and stood there, looking at his own back in front of him. "You wanna talk about what's on your mind?" Zoro didn't really know why he was asking her, because he knew what she was thinking about. But maybe there was a possibility that he could help. Then again, why was he caring so much?

"Ya mean _yer _mind," Chas said. "It's not like we switched brains or anythin'. It's yer body and yer mind! I don't own anythin' in this thing except…" Chas rubbed her head again. "I don't even know anymore!" Chas took a deep breath before standing to her feet and looked back to meet eyes with her own serious face. "Forget it, we have training to do, right?" Chas then turned her back to Zoro and walked away, heading to set up the dummies for Zoro's shooting practice.

Zoro stood there for a moment, crossing his arms under the large bust for a chest and watched at Chas continued to walk away. After a moment, he sighed, grumbling a bit about how much of an annoyance this whole this is, and then looked to the armor of his arm now.

"Maybe I finally understand a bit…" Zoro mumbled as he tried scratched his arm, but it was impossible because of the armor. He soon cursed and stormed off after Chas, just wanting the days to be over with so he can finally be back in his own body.


	25. Chapter 25

**Hello! Guess what? We've reached thirty story alerts! Great, right?! Anyway, like I said, I will consider doing the Punk Hazard Arc, but I WON'T do Dressrosa (just because I would have to read over the chapters and do all the writing while looking it over and how I'm going to have to find ways of putting Chas into it…it's hard enough with PH). There are a couple of concerns I have if I do that arc: One being I would have to add another character to this already large list of characters; and two, I wouldn't know where to end it so I can get back onto the main plot of this fanfic and without having to do Dressrosa. Actually, the second I can do, but it's the first one that's my concern.**

**Anyway, I'm still considering it and I'm currently writing those chapters out now so I don't have to do it later (if I do the Arc which will most likely happen)**

**This chapter is short, and I apologize for that. It's also very pointless… Enjoy anyway!**

* * *

"Kaki Kaki no Pistol!"

Nothing happened, absolutely nothing. No matter how hard Zoro tried, he couldn't use Chas's Kaki Kaki no Mi, which aggravated him beyond explanation. If he wasn't able to use it, then he'd feel useless when battle came, not that he didn't feel that way now.

"I told ya," Chas said, crossing her legs with a sigh. "Yer not imagin' the change or anythin'." Chas scratched her head. "At this rate ya won't be able to do anythin'."

"Says the girl who can't even hold a sword properly," Zoro said, collapsing into the seat next to Chas. With Chas's body being so weak, he gets tired more easily and can't do much of his intensive. He even had body aches that he hadn't felt in a long time.

"It's not my fault that I was never raised to be a swordsman!" Chas snarled at him.

Zoro took a deep breath, leaning back on in the bench and resting his arms on the backs of it. "I've been wondering… How did you learn how to use your Kaki Kaki no Mi?"

Chas turned her head to look at Zoro. He was looking right at her, head tilted to the side in curiosity.

"When I was younger," Chas began, leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees, "Ojiki took me to an island. He told me it was vacation, but I later found out he was workin'. Point is, I got lost. I was hungry, thirsty, and when I found the first thin' that looked edible I didn't hesitate... When Ojiki found the next day, my arm had changed into a large gun." Chas laughed. "When I look back on it now, it's rather funny the way we over reacted and panicked for no reason." Chas looked back to Zoro with a smile. "It took me two years to fully control it."

"Two years?" Zoro questioned.

Chas nodded. "But you've gotten farther then I had in one year." Chas laughed to show she wasn't depressed or anything. But even with the laugh, Zoro still knew she wasn't comfortable admitting that.

Zoro sighed and stood to his feet, holding out his hand towards Chas. "All right, back to work."

Chas raised an eyebrow at Zoro. "What are we doin'?"

"Sparing," Zoro answered.

* * *

"Oi, Luffy!" Sanji shouted, walking out onto deck. Luffy looked up from his game of cards with Usopp and over to Sanji. "Lunch is ready!"

"Really?" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper shouted, quickly getting up and running towards the kitchen.

"About time," Franky said, stretching as he walked after the three.

Nami smiled and began walking into the kitchen with Robin, until she remember the two that were missing. She turned around and looked to Brook who was still making his way over. "Brook? Do you think you can tell Chas and Zoro?" Nami pointed towards the gym above.

"Of course," Brook said with a smile.

Brook climbed up the rope ladder and then climbed the ladder towards the hatch. He opened the hatch and peaked into the room only to see a rather amusing picture in front of him.

Chas's body had Zoro's body pined to the ground, hands clasped over the male's wrist, pinning them to the ground, and the female straddling the male. What made this position even more awkward for Brook to see was that the female was topless (with only a bra on) and the male didn't have a shirt either.

Chas and Zoro looked up, faces flushing red when they saw Brook looking at them rather strangely.

"Sorry for disturbing…" Brook said, ducking out of the hatch and heading down to the kitchen as quickly as possible, not hearing Zoro and Chas shouting that it was all a mistake. But even with that said, Brook had a feeling he just couldn't keep quiet about this recent discovery.


	26. Chapter 26

"Black Leg!"

Sanji stopped his cleaning of the kitchen and looked back over his shoulder, flinching when he saw a smiling Zoro's face looking right at him. Inside he knew it was Chas, but he couldn't help but cringe.

"Ah, C-Chas-san," Sanji said with a small stutter and smile. "Is there something you need?"

"I was wonderin' if ya needed help with anythin'," Chas said, walking into the room to see clean dishes stacked on the counter, along with all appliances on to cook that evening's dinner. "All the others had kicked me out and told me not to help them, and Mochi"-Sanji gave a small chuckle unnoticed by Chas-"told me not to bother him with nonsense since it's the last day of the switch…"

"Chas-san, it's kind of you to ask, but I can't make a woman do all the dirty work around here," Sanji said with a strained smile.

"Don't worry!" Chas said waving a hand naturally. "I'm not a woman today!" Chas soon froze and paled when she realized what she said. "I can't believe I just said that…"

"All right," Sanji sighed, knowing Chas wouldn't go away until he agreed for her to help, "if you really want to help, will you grab six more carrots and five more celery sticks from the pantry?" Sanji pointed to the large door to his right.

"Gotcha!" Chas said with a bright smile, which just freaked Sanji out even more. He didn't know how to react to Zoro's face smiling like that. He just kept trying to picture Chas smiling at him, but it never seemed to fully work.

Chas walked over to the pantry and opened it, stepping in to grab the said supplies. Once he had then in her hands, she walked back out and set them on the counter, looking back over to the stacked dishes.

_I guess I'll just put these away… _Chas thought, grabbing the clean dishes and putting them in the cupboards they belonged in.

"I would have done that, Chas-san," Sanji said looking over in her direction.

"I got it," Chas said with another smile.

Sanji gave a small smile and looked back to the meal he was preparing, somewhat glad for Chas's help in his kitchen.

* * *

"120…121…122…123…" Zoro continued to count as he did pushups in the gym. Even if he was stuck in Chas's body, he wasn't going to give up his usual training just because she was weak.

Soon, Zoro collapsed onto the ground and managed to roll over onto his back, panting for much needed air.

"Dammit!" he said, slamming his fists against the ground. He hated being weak like this. In his frustration, he turned his head to look over to the open window, seeing the clouds float calmly across the sky. They were gray, which must have meant there was going to be rain soon, or so he guessed.

Zoro yawned and soon found himself drifting off into a much needed nap. He didn't bother getting off the hard ground, finding it rather comfortable to lay on. He was soon snoring happily away in dreamland.

* * *

After about two hours or so, Zoro had woken up from his nap by the strange feeling of something, or someone, staring at him. He slowly opened his eyes and looked in front of him, only to be met with a pair of orange eyes that were on a round peach shape figure with a long, skinny, stem to a second fat portion.

"Must be dreaming…" Zoro mumbled, closing his eyes again and trying to drift off to sleep.

"KYA!"

Zoro's eyes opened again and blinked a few times so the picture of whatever was sitting on his chest was clearer. Indeed, it was clearer, but what he saw just managed to tick him off: The bird had returned. The yellow feathers, purple wings, and orange eyes were an exact match the ones he saw on the bird days ago.

"KYA!" it screeched again, right in Zoro's face.

Zoro cringed from the screech, but soon recovered to try and grab the bird. The bird was quick and jumped away before Zoro could grab it.

"Get back her you damn thing!" Zoro shouted, running after it. It continued to run around the room, ducking under weights and hiding behind the towels. But Zoro always managed to find it and tried grabbing its thin neck again.

"KYAAA!" the bird screamed, making a jump for the opened window.

Zoro jumped for the bird, but it had already made it out the window. Zoro got up off the ground and looked out the window to see the bird sitting down on deck, walking around. It soon looked up, eyes bugged out, and it ran away to hide.

Zoro quickly got out of the gym and returned to deck, beginning to head in the direction the bird went in.

"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy said, seeing the male in a female's body run past him. "What are you-" Zoro just ran past his captain and continued to head after the bird, which Luffy saw turn the corner.

As Luffy was about to shrug off the whole thing, he saw Zoro and the bird reemerge from the other side of the walkway around the Kitchen, Dining Room, and Infirmary.

"Oi, Zoro, I want to play too!" Luffy said, beginning to chase after the bird too.

"I'm not playing a game!" Zoro shouted.

Luffy didn't care whether it was a game or not, he just wanted to join in the fun of chasing after the bird.

"What the hell is going on out here?!" Chas shouted, exiting the kitchen with Sanji right behind her. She then saw the purple and yellow bird, running across the deck like a Dodo bird. Unlike Zoro, she didn't get angry at seeing the bird, but she did get angry at seeing Zoro chase after it.

"Knock it off, both of you!" Chas shouted, quickly getting Zoro into a headlock.

"Get off me, Manju!" Zoro shouted, trying to get himself released.

"Stop chasing the bird then!"

"Will all of you just shut up?!" Chas and Zoro, along with Luffy who had finally caught the frightened bird, were hit on the head by Nami. All three listened and stopped what they were doing, sitting their quieting while Nami tried calming down the frightened creature.

"You shouldn't treat it this way!" Nami scolded them. "Even if it is the cause of your problems." Nami soon looked to Luffy. "And _you_! Why were you chasing after it?!"

"It looked like fun!" Luffy said, which got answered with another hit to the head.

"But why is it back?" Chopper asked, looking up the bird on Nami's shoulder.

"KYA!" it screeched.

Chopper blinked. "Oh…really?" The bird shrieked again and soon more after that, as if explaining itself in full scale.

"What'd it say, Chopper?" Usopp asked, joining the group with Brook, Robin, and Franky behind him.

"He said that he came back to apologize," Chopper said, looking to everyone. "He didn't mean to swap Chas and Zoro, but did it to get away from their arguing. He felt that if he had stayed Zoro would have ripped off his head."

"AW!" Chas said, tears beginning to get in the corner of her eyes.

"Don't start crying with my face!" Zoro shouted at her.

Chas looked to Zoro. "But I can't help it… It's just so sweet…"

"I want to keep it," Luffy said, looking at the bird with a smile. The bird squawked at Luffy and soon bit his nose, making it stretch as Luffy pulled away to look at the others. "See? It likes me!"

"I don't know Luffy…" Chas said. "It looks to me like"-everyone was soon surprised when she stopped talking for a moment, then continued talking from her own lips and feminine voice-"it wants nothin' to do with ya." Chas's eyes widened and she was frozen from shock, which was the same expression everyone else was showing.

"About time…" Zoro said, stretching in his own body. "I was getting tired of having water bags on my chest."

Everyone around the two stared and said nothing (except for Sanji who was more than happy to see his lovely princess back to being herself).

"I'm back!" Chas shouted, jumping to her feet but she soon learned that was a bad idea when the sudden wash of pain fell over every limb in her body. She immediately looked to Zoro. "Why do I hurt everywhere?!"

"It's not my fault you're weak," Zoro said, cleaning his ear. "I had to cut my training in half because of your weak body."

"I'm female!" Chas shouted, grabbing him by the collar. "And I'm not weak!"

"Here it goes again…" Nami said, putting a hand over her face as the usual arguing continued and the annoying question 'can we keep it?' kept coming from Luffy. Once again, everything seemed to be back on track for the crew, and due to Nami's cave in, Luffy got himself a new pet.

* * *

**Hey everyone! Another pointless chapter! Yay!**

**Anyway, I just wanted to say, I made a Tumblr…for really no reason at all… But if you want to ask me questions about characters, plots, or just have any questions in general, go find me there and you can ask. Also, if you have any ideas for later chapters and are like "Hey, ya know, this would be perfect for this story!" just tell me on there too! Because I probably won't answer if you tell me on here (like PM's or through comments, unless completely necessary). So, go find me, same name, same picture, easy peesey lemon squeezy! Wait, I don't do lemon… NEVERMIND! It's easy as pie!**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, even with its pointlessness, and look forward to the next small bunch of chapters (okay, not small but quite large) until I do Punk Hazard (which will end differently than the manga because I actually have a two plots that need to happen in this story…sorry…). Hope to see you all later!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Note: The following song (as seen in italics) are from the One Piece Character Singles. I have no owning to this. If you wish to listen to the song from this chapter as you read, it's "Usopp no Hanamichi" and can be found on YouTube.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

At the moment the Straw Hats were stopped at port, stocking up on supplies towards their long journey towards another island the journal was telling them to go. They were all prepared to leave, until Nami came running onto deck with a poster in her hands.

"A contest?" everyone repeated, blinking blankly at Nami.

"Yeah," Nami said, placing the poster on the table. Everyone leaned over to see a colorful, and well prepared, poster titled 'Contestants Wanted'. "Whoever wins the contest will get an Eternal Log Pose to an unknown island hiding a legendary treasure." Nami's eyes sparkled inhumanly.

"Eternal Log Pose?" Usopp repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Unknown Island?" Chas said, raising her eyebrow.

"LEGENDARY TREASURE?!" Luffy and Chopper shouted.

"Sounds like the place we're looking for," Robin said, smiling as she looked towards the others.

"Then it's settled!" Luffy said, cheering loudly. "We'll all participate in this contest!"

"I was hoping you'd say that because I already signed you up!" Nami said, smiling and holding up the certification for their group.

"I have a question," Usopp said, raising his hand after reading the paper. "Why is it only the six of us participating?!" Usopp motioned to himself and the five sitting beside him: Chopper, Chas, Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy.

"Because Robin and I are going to working on costumes," Nami said, placing her hands on her hips. "Brook has a famous face and it he participated it would be cheating, and Franky…" Nami stopped talking for a moment. She wasn't even too sure what Franky would be doing so she just spat out whatever she was thinking. "He's the choreographer."

"Choreographer?" Chas questioned. "What kind of contest is this anyway?!"

"Poster says it's a singing contest being held at the 'Orange Charade Bar'," Luffy said, reading over the details. "It's a weeklong contest and whoever wins will be able to get an Eternal Log Pose and wins 100,000,000 beri."

"Yer doin' this for the money!" Chas said, looking to Nami.

"No I'm not!" Nami said, crossing her arms. "I'm doing this so we can get the log pose. We've been at sea for a while, getting nowhere with that journal you gave us! This is the best bet we got towards that Legendary Treasure."

Chas sighed. "Guess yer right… But a singin' contest?"

"Oh, it'll be fun, Chas!" Chopper said with a bright smile.

Chas sighed, having the odd feeling something was going to go terribly wrong.

* * *

**_The Next Day: Evening_**

The Straw Hats entered the "Orange Charade Bar" to see it filled. All seats were taken, except one table in the back, which the Straw Hats decided to sit at.

"Anyway idea who's goin' first?" Chas asked Nami, after everyone had been seated at the round table.

"Usopp's first," Nami said.

Usopp froze when everyone looked at him. "Why me?!"

"Because you're the best to go first," Nami said. She put her hands on his shoulders and nodded. "Good luck."

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Straw Hats."

Everyone looked up to see a rather familiar face: the bright red mullet; the spiked beard and sideburns; and black shirt and shoes with brownish-red pants. It was Candi Red, the same man that had picked a fight with Chas, and Marco, and soon ended up falling in love with Chas.

"What are you freaks doing h-" Candi Red stopped when he saw Chas looking right at him with her beautiful glare. "Mademoiselle!"

Chas flinched, backing up into Zoro when she tried getting away from Candi Red, but Red had managed to grab her hand and started kissing it.

"The days felt so long ever since you left with no goodbye!" Candi Red, still kissing her hand.

At the moment, Luffy and Brook were desperately trying to hold back Sanji who wanted to punch Candi Red across the room. Sadly he couldn't do it if the crew wanted to win the Eternal Log Pose in the competition. The first rule was that there were no fights between contestants.

"Get off me!" Chas said, about to shove Candi Red off of her, but Zoro had already done so. "Why the hell are ya here anyway?!"

"I came to win the Eternal Log Pose with my crew!" Candi Red, triumphantly. "And also"-Candi Red bowed to Chas-"win your hand, Milady."

Chas rolled her eyes and looked away, not realizing that she had continued to stay close to Zoro.

"Wasn't the answer given last time?" Zoro and Sanji snarled at the man. "She's not marryin' you!"

"Hearts change!" Candi Red said, gripping his chest.

"Why do you want to Log Pose, Sandy?" Luffy asked, having ignored the whole conversation and only heard what he actually wanted to know.

"It's Candi! And I want the Legendary Treasure, just like yer crew wants, and them." Candi Red pointed over his shoulder towards the recently opened door. A group of five people walked in; four males and one female.

"Who's that?" Nami asked.

"Captain Hangman Lang," Candi Red said, nodding towards the tall, rather handsome, man wearing all black, "and a few of his crew members: Vera"-Candi Red pointed light heartedly to the brown haired woman next to Lang-"Toby and Wylie"-he pointed to the two men behind Vera, both were large but seemed rather dimwitted-"and Elias 'One-Legged' Shiver"-the final one Red pointed to was the oldest of the group, gray hair and beard, and had only one leg.

"You must be the competition," Hangman Lang said, walking over to the Straw Hats and Candi Red. "Looks like we won't have to worry about much." He then laughed with his crew.

"I think ya might have somethin' to worry about," Chas said, taking a drink of the glass Sanji had just set down in front of her. "But winning won't be one of them."

"C-Chas…" Usopp said, shaking. "I-I don't think you should make him-"

Vera soon slammed her hands against the table, leaning close to Chas's ear. "You say somethin', Little Red?"

Chas took another drink from her glass and then set it down, looking towards Vera. "Yeah, I did. I said: Ya might want to dye your hair again, the gray's showin' through." Chas then smiled at Vera as the woman fumed. Vera grabbed Chas by the collar, pulling the woman out of her seat.

"Say that again, I dare ya to!" Vera snarled, but Chas continued to smile.

"Vera!" Lang shouted. Vera looked to her captain and soon shoved Chas back in her seat, sending her toppling over. If it wasn't for Sanji keeping an arm behind her, she would have surely hit the ground, and she thanked him for that.

"I apologize for her," Lang said, smiling towards the others. "But she is quite right, we will surely win."

Luffy frowned and put a hand to his chin. "No, I'm pretty sure we'll win…"

Lang's eye twitched. "And who are you, boy?"

Luffy smiled. "Monkey D. Luffy! I'm going to be Pirate King!"

Hangman Lang's eyes narrowed at Luffy and his unending smile.

Elias chuckled. "That's quite an accusation, Monkey D. Luffy."

"But it's true," Brook said. "He _will _become Pirate King."

"And we _will _win this competition," Nami said, smirking.

Lang soon turned his back to the crew, walking away laughing. "We'll see about that. Be prepared, Straw Hats!"

"See ya later, Little Red," Vera said, looking to Chas then walking away with her captain and crew mates.

"I don't like them," Franky scoffed, crossing his arms. "I think they'll be a real big problem from here out."

"She's so sexy!" Sanji said, eyes shaped in hearts as he stared at Vera walk away. Soon Nami had hit him on the head for thinking such things about a person who had almost killed one of his own friends.

"Chas, why'd you have to do that?!" Usopp asked, shaking Chas by her shoulders.

"Calm down!" Nami said, pulling Usopp off of Chas. "There's no way we can lose to people like them!"

"She's right," Robin said, smiling as she crossed her legs. "We'll win."

"All right!" Luffy said, holding up his glass. "Let's make a toast to winning!"

"Right!" everyone cheered, clinking glasses together.

Minutes later, the competition started and the all the contestants were introduced. The rules were then laid out: No cheating or fighting. It was as simple as that. Soon after that, the singing began with one of Candi Red singing first.

Candi Red sang a love song to Chas, which just angered her to no end. She wished she could shoot the man right then and there so she didn't have to deal with him later. But her friend laughed and enjoyed the embarrassing performance, especially Zoro who was having a ball.

"Stop laughing!" Chas snarled, kicking Zoro in his shin.

"But he just loves you so much, Dango," Zoro said, smirking and holding back his laughter as much as he could. But it didn't help.

Soon Candi Red's performance ended with claps all around the room.

After him, it was Elias from Hangman Lang's crew singing a traditional song from his home country. The song ended up making everyone sleepy in the room and a few of the drunks had actually fallen asleep.

"This is boring…" Luffy yawned, laying his head against the table.

"So tired…" Chopper mumbled.

"Have to survive…" Chas sighed, slamming her head against the table.

After what felt like half an hour, the song ended and the room was left quiet.

The Orange Charade Bar's owner soon stood up on stage and introduced the next singer, who was Usopp.

"Go Usopp!" Nami and Chas cheered.

"Usopp doesn't look to good…" Chopper said, putting a hoof to his mouth. Usopp was pale and shaking, most likely from stage fright and seeing so many hard glares looking at him, but when the music stared, it seemed he had bucked up his courage and did his absolute best.

_There are time a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do (otoko ni ha yaranakya naranai toki ga aru)_

_Like when the ship is destroyed (tatoeba fune ga yarareta toki sa)_

_If we don't have a ship, we can't start anything (koitsu ga inakucha hajimaranai)_

_So I'll fix her up! (dakara ore ga naosu made)_

_The King of Coveralls (KING OF caba ooru)_

Usopp secretly winked to his crew, giving them the heads up that he had everything covered, but the Straw Hats didn't doubt that for a moment.

_That's the glorious way of a man! That's the path I live! (sore ga otoko no hanamichi! Sore ga ikiru michi!)_

_People call me the "Shadow Captain" (hito ha kage no kyaputen to yobu)_

_Captain Usopp! (Captain Usoppu!)_

Luffy, Chopper, Franky, Robin, Brook, and Zoro were all clapping their hands, impressed with Usopp's performance so far. Chas, Sanji, and Nami all couldn't believe what Usopp was singing about. Slowly, these thoughts got worse as he continued.

_Even if you don't like it, I'm gonna make you smile (anta ya warui ga waratte morau ze)_

_Even though I lie, I'll make you laugh (uso tsuite demo, waratte maraou)_

_That's what life is: Laughing is winning! (sore mo jinsei warau ga kachi sa)_

_There are time a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do (otoko ni ha yaranakya naranai toki ga aru)_

_Like when his pride's been damaged (tatoeba hokori ga kegazareta toki)_

_You gotta respect a warrior of the sea! (umi no senshi wa risupekuto)_

_That's why I can't run away (dakara or ha nigerarenee)_

_The King of Natural Perms! (KING OF tennen paama)_

Usopp took off his hat and showed his hair, only to put back on his hat and continue forth with the music.

_That's the glorious way of a man! It's always the most important thing (sore ga otoko no hanamichi! Itsumo ichidaiji)_

_I'll appear in a flurry of petals (hanafubuki de toujou suru ze)_

_Captain Usopp! Yeah! (CAPTAIN USOPPU! Yeah!)_

_All aboard, all aboard, all aboard, all aboard! (nottekoi, nottekoi, nottekoi, nottekoi!)_

Usopp pointed to a man's drink.

_Hey, aren't there snails in here…? (na, katastumuri tte, iru darou…?)_

Usopp then shrugged and continued having fun with his song, ignoring the frantic man checking his cup.

_Not that it really matters or anything… (betsu ni nannde mo nainn dakedo)_

_Even if you don't like it, I'm not gonna laugh (anta ya warui ga waraeya shine ze)_

_A man's pride isn't something you laugh at (otoko no hokori warawasenee ze)_

_That's what like if: Following your dreams! (sore mo jinsei, umemite ikou)_

_Even if you don't like it, I'm gonna make you smile (anta ya warui ga waratte morau ze)_

_Even though I lie, I'll make you laugh (uso tsuite demo, waratte maraou)_

_That's what life is: Laughing is winning! (sore mo jinsei warau ga kachi sa)_

Usopp soon looked toward Hangman Lang's group and winked, saying the final line when the music ended: _Don't fall for me now~ (Horeru no yo~)_

The room was filled with applause and Usopp was beyond happy with them. But, soon, he fainted having just stood in front of so many people and sang.

"AH!" Chopper shouted, running over to Usopp and fanning him.

"Guess it was too much to handle?" Chas questioned.

"But he did a great job," Robin said.

"SUPER!" Franky said, holding up his large bottle of cola.

"I never knew Usopp could do that!" Luffy said, still clapping.

"I'm impressed," Zoro said, leaning back in his chair and smirking.

"Yer impressed with everything," Chas said, turning her head towards Zoro. Zoro glared at her. "It's true!" Chas then looked away.

"I knew I wrote the right song!" Brook said, hands clasped in front of him as his face read 'I'm on Cloud 9 right now'.

"We're defiantly going to win that 100,000,000 beri," Nami said, eyes sparkling.

"Is that all you think about?!" everyone shouted at her.

As everyone began getting into a large debate about Nami's love for money and the reason behind why they were participating, Chas stopped listening and looked back over her shoulder after feeling someone staring at her. Hangman Lang was looking over to their table as Vera whispered in his ear. When Lang met eyes with Chas, he raised his glass to her and soon looked away with a smile, which disturbed Chas a bit.

"Something wrong, Chas-san?"

Chas was startled and looked back over her shoulder to see Sanji looking at her. She smiled and said, "No, it's nothing." Chas then looked back over to Lang, narrowing her eyes as she saw them talking among themselves. _I have a feelin' the "no cheatin' and fightin'" rule won't apply to them…_


	28. Chapter 28

"Is it just me, or does that group seem awfully confident in themselves?" Chas said, nodding towards Hangman Lang and his crew a few tables away from them.

It was now the second day of the contest and so far it seems that the Straw Hats were winning the contest so far. But Chas knew that wouldn't be the case for long in Vera was singing that night, which she was. She had a feeling that the thin and fine woman had a trick or two up her sleeves, that's if she wore sleeves. Instead the woman had to run around in a short skirt and bikini top that barely left any imagination. No wonder men were following her around.

"It's not your imagination," Zoro answered, looking at the same group. He knew something was off ever since yesterday.

"You have to remember," Robin said, crossing her legs and looking at Chas, "a lot of people are after this Legendary Treasure we're after. It's no exactly secret after all."

Chas sighed and looked back to the dark stage ahead of her. "Ya have a point. That journal wasn't exactly secret to begin with."

"Hey, where's Sanji?" Usopp asked, finally looking up from his little contraption in his hands. After last night's show, he couldn't stand looking at the people around the bar much more. He just wanted everything to end so they could leave.

"He's-" Before Nami could continue, the lights in the bar dimmed the sound of a piano playing was resounding through the large hall. Each and every person in the room looked to the stage, just as the spotlight landed on the person playing such a lovely tune. Sadly, the only people who were shocked beyond words were the player's own crew: The Straw Hats.

"S-Sanji?!" Usopp, Luffy, Chopper, and Chas shouted in a low whisper, surprised to see the blonde chef playing such a lovely melody on the piano, in which they never knew he played. Then gentlemen opened his mouth and sang the first few words of the song.

_The instant the sun set (Tasogare no jikoku wa)_

_Hmm… Red wine (Hmm…van ruuju mishiranu machi o)_

_As we walk through the foreign city (Aruki-tsuzukereba)_

_You made such a lonely face (sabishige na kao shita)_

_Hmm…vanilla girl, give me your recommendation (Hmm…vaniiyu gaaru boku ni osusume)_

_Cooking is marriage (Ryouri wa mariaju)_

The shocked faces of the Straw Hats immediately left their faces. It was just the song that he turned out to be singing didn't surprise them so much anymore. The group figured it would be a romantic song, from the way it started, but now…they just didn't know what it was.

Sanji stood to his feet, taking the mic up into his hands, and continuing his song without a care in the world.

_If my dreams were to come true (Negai ga kanaru nara)_

_Hmm…so amusing, we'd stop time and go see a rainbow (Hmm…amyuuzu jikan o tomete niji o mi no ikou)_

_Don't be afraid (Kowagaranaide)_

_Hmm…blackcurrant girl, this instant will make you happy, marriage (hmm…kashusu gaaru shiawase ni naru shukan mariaju)_

_We'll scrutinize all the the ingredients, a boy meets girl collaboration (shiri uru kagiri no sozai o ginmi boy meets girl na koraboreeshon)_

_Tonight's drama starts with you (Kon'ua no dorama no shuyaku wa kimi sa)_

_Nice and easy, Moulin Rouge (Nice and easy ni muuran ruuju)_

"Did you write this?" Usopp and Chas said, looking at Brook.

Brook laughed and soon went serious. "No."

"This a 100% Sanji song…" Nami said, face palming.

"I don't think it's all that bad," Chopper said, swaying from side to side.

"As long as he doesn't bring our points down, I don't care what he sings." Nami eyes shined. "I just want that money!"

"So you were after the money!" Zoro, Usopp, and Chopper said.

"And so does everyone else in the room," Chas said, nodding towards the table that she had continuously kept an eye on. The table was antsy and looking very angry at the moment. It seemed that Sanji's singing was unsettling for Hangman Lang to hear.

"Quit worrying," Zoro said, smirking and leaning back in his chair, "if they decided to make a move, then they'll learn they messed with the wrong crew." Zoro glanced at Chas with the usual confident smile. "Idiots like them won't even stand a chance."

Chas chuckled and smiled. She couldn't help but over think that statement and wonder if they would get beaten so easily. It's not like the weakest of the weak enter contests like this. Anyone does, and that just might include those strong pirates the Straw Hats might have difficulty with. Plus with the rule "No fighting" it would make it rather hard to beat them.

_Like that's even possible…_ Chas thought, laughing to herself. Chas sighed soon after, forgetting her doubt. She soon let out a gasp when she was suddenly grabbed by her wrist and pulled to her feet. Next thing she knew, she was dancing with Sanji in the middle of the open floor as he continued with the song he was performing.

_Glaze three days, we'll float through the sky (mikkazuki o gurasse shite sora ni ukabeyou)_

_I'll wipe away your tears (kimi no namida o konkasse)_

_Let's spread out into this fortunate night…hmm (guuzen no yoru e makichirasou…hmm)_

_When you smile, it caramelizes my heart (kimi ga hohoemu toki boku no mune o kyaramerize._

_The taste of the evening is (mayonaka no aji to wa)_

_Hmm…chocolate noir (hmm shokoro nowaaru)_

_Sweet and yet bitter, our memories are beginning… (amakute nigai omoide hajimaru…)_

Zoro's eye twitched in irritation as he continued to watch the crappy chef dance with Chas. He couldn't stand it. It annoyed him to no end.

Chas narrowed her eyes at Sanji, but he continued singing and dancing with her wholeheartedly. He spun her around a few times, and when he pulled her back, her expression was in a deep scowl.

_Don't make that face (Sonna kao shinaide)_

Chas's expression turned surprised, and a bit red, when Sanji placed a hand on her cheek. This in turn made Zoro even more angry then he already was, not really understanding why he was so uncomfortable with it.

_Hmm…biscuit girl (hmm…bisukyui gaaru)_

_Parting is always blue marriage (wakare wa itsumo hekushoku mariaju)_

Chas's eyes narrowed, along with Zoro's from the sidelines.

"This isn't funny, Sanji…" Chas snarled in a low whisper.

"I'm not trying to be," Sanji answered, spinning her around once more, trying really hard not to show that perverted and lovable side. He didn't want to ruin the performance, or the moment.

Chas sighed and followed along, not really understanding what was going on at all. He seemed different, less flirty and hormonal than usual, but why? Because this was a serious competition and he knew how much they all wanted to win?

_As long as I have my wits, I'll find the words, hard to say in this situation (omoi tsuku kagiri kotoba anarabe hard to say no kono shichueishon)_

_Entrust your wish to the rose in the champagne (shampan no roze no negai o komete)_

_Bitter and sweet, Moulin Rouge (Bitter and sweet ni muuran rujuu)_

Sanji dipped Chas, making her head tip back and looked at the others. They all looked quite confused and shocked at the moment, except Zoro who just looked extremely pissed. Chas couldn't understand why though, but it made her heart jump anyway.

Sanji looked up and to the others, smiling spitefully when he met Zoro's eyes, as if giving Zoro the idea he lost. Zoro's expression darkened as if saying, "You'll pay for this." But Sanji continued smiling as he began to end his performance.

_Sugar coat your voice, a beaufitful melody (kimi no koe konfi shite utsukushii)_

_This one moment, locked in gelatin (kono isshun o asupikku)_

_Now I'll take you to the ends of time…hmm (eien no Kanata tsurete ikou…hmm)_

_Don't say goodbye, your long hair adds such a nice flavor (iwanaide sayonara nagai kami de aromatiser)_

When Chas was back on her feet, Sanji took a few strands of her red hair and kissed them. He then pulled away and bowed, just as the music was ending.

The bar was filled with claps and cheers once again. Even a few of the women in the room were swooning over the performance.

"That was amazing, Sanji!" Luffy and Chopper shouted, standing from their seats.

"That was quite the performance," Robin said, smiling to the chef as he returned with Chas.

"You're giving me too much credit, Robin-san!" Sanji said, a deep blush on his cheeks as he smiled back.

"For a minute I thought you wouldn't take it seriously," Nami said. "But maybe we won this one after all!"

"There's still two contestants left, so I wouldn't get too cocky yet."

Everyone looked up and saw Vera standing there, a hand on her hip as she smiled calmly towards them. She then walked towards Sanji and tilted her head. "That was quite the performance." Vera looked the chef from head to foot and smiled as if she liked what she saw. "I always liked handsome men who can sing." She placed a finger on Sanji's chest, slowly sliding it down his tie, which made the chef's heart race a bit faster and his nose slightly bleed. "What would you say to-"

Vera was soon cut off when Chas grabbed her hand and glared at her.

"Oh?" Vera said, smirking with a chuckle. "Is he yours?"

Chas opened her mouth, but before she could even say anything, Luffy answered. "No, he's mine!"

Everyone looked at Luffy, Sanji quite angry at the fact Luffy had to say that, and they were all surprised by how serious he was with that declaration.

"Uh, Luffy-san," Brook said, "I don't think she meant what you were thinking…"

"Either way, it fits," Zoro laughed, which soon began the fight between him and Sanji (which continued on for some time).

"Whether he is or not," Chas said, shoving Vera's hand back to her own side, "yer not touching yer filthy hands on him."

"She's right," Nami said, putting her hands on her hips and standing next to Chas. "Now why don't you run along before we get both our teams disqualified."

Vera snarled at both of them and soon looked at Chas. "You'll regret getting in our way, Little Red." Vera then stormed off towards stage, about to get ready for her own performance.

"I don't like her…" Chopper said.

"I don't like her either, Chopper," Nami said, patting Chopper on the head.

"Chas-san!" Sanji chimed, hugging Chas when she turned around. "There's no need to be so jealous of another woman. I'll always be yours!"

"She's not even yours!" Zoro shouted, pulling Sanji off of Chas.

"Is that because she already has you?" Robin asked, chuckling while she secretly high-fived Brook and Franky under the table.

Zoro's face reddened as he stammered his answer. "W-Where the hell do you get that idea?!" He then had to wonder to himself why he was so defensive over the subject.

"Your face is red, Zoro," Luffy said, laughing.

"Will ya all just shut up?" Chas shouted, her face just as red. "I belong to no one except myself." Chas then angrily sat back down in her chair, waiting for the next performance to begin.

The next performance that started was from one of Candi Red's men: Jake Peacock. He looked around the same age as Franky (which was thirty-six years old) and seemed to be rather dirty. His face was covered in dirt and his hair was ragged and messy.

"I don't think that man has bathed in over a month…" Nami said, wincing when the man smiled at her.

"Disgusting…" Chas said, taking a drink of Sherry.

After Jake's performance, it was Vera's turn. The woman sat on a stole, crossing her long legs, and began singing the song "Tsuki no Taiyo". Her voice was lovely, the Straw Hats had to admit, but the way she smiled irritated Chas beyond belief.

"A beautiful voice for such a beautiful angel!" Sanji said, swooning a bit like the rest of the men in the pub.

"She's our enemy!" Usopp said, angrily.

"Doesn't mean she isn't hot!" Franky said, his dropped just like Brook's was at the moment.

Everyone suddenly stopped talking when Chas stood from her chair, making it hit the back wall with a _bang_.

"Chas?" Nami questioned.

Chas began walking away from the table, hands in her jacket pockets. She didn't answer the constant calls from Sanji and Nami. But she did answer when Luffy suddenly called her.

"Oi, Teaspoon, you leaving?" Luffy asked, turning his head.

"Just headin' outside for a smoke!" Chas said, waving the packet of cigarettes in her hand. She then disappeared into the crown of people.

"I wonder what's wrong," Chopper said.

"Maybe she's not feeling well?" Brook suggested.

"She would have said something if that were the case, wouldn't she?" Robin said.

"Ah…" Brook said, looking like he finally understood. "I see…"

After Vera's performance ended, the results were given and it seemed the Straw Hats had lost to Hangman Lang's team by ten points. This shocked everyone, which gave Vera the reaction she was hoping for from them, and let her receive a good reward from her captain.

"Chas still hasn't returned…" Chopper said, looking towards the door.

"I'll go see what's she's doing," Zoro said, getting out of his seat. He then walked towards the door and exited before anyone could say otherwise.

Chas was sitting on a bench, under a street light, still smoking as she looked to the ground. She looked a bit angry, but it was hard to tell with the dim light.

"Round's over…" Zoro said, sitting down next to her.

"I know…" Chas said, puffing smoke out of her mouth. "I could hear it from out here. We lost to Hangman Lang…" Chas put the cigarette back in her mouth.

"It's only one round, we'll-"

"In this one round they managed to surpass us in the listings already," Chas said.

"Don't you think you're getting too worked up over a silly competition?" Zoro questioned, leaning back against the bench.

Chas sighed. "Guess the pressure from Nami is getting' to me…"

Zoro soon looked to the ground and noticed about seven cigarette butts near Chas's feet. He knew she had been smoking more than she usually does.

He reached across and grabbed the cigarette that was in her mouth and threw it to the ground, digging it into the sand with his foot.

"Oi, Marimo, what do ya-"

"What's wrong?" Zoro asked, looking at her seriously. "You only smoke when you're thinking about something that really bothers you."

"No I don't!" Chas said, glaring at him. "I do it to occupy my mouth!"

"Then find something else to occupy your mouth with!" Zoro equally shouted as he leaned closer. Zoro's face soon flushed when he realized what he was implying with that sentence. He looked away from Chas, pulling back a lot, which made Chas raise an eyebrow at his strange behavior. "I know because the last time something was really bothering you was when we switched places. You smoked and pretty much started choking."

"And that's your own fault," Chas said, crossing her arms. She soon went silent, serious for a moment, before speaking again. "Don't you find that odd?"

"Hm?" Zoro questioned, returning to his usual self.

"If ya really think about it, Vera shouldn't have gotten as many points as she did," Chas said. "But the judge gave her enough to surpass us."

"Is it really that strange that she's better than that shitty chef?" Zoro crossed his arms.

"I saw her out here, after her performance," Chas said, pointing to a nearby alley way. "She was talkin' with the judge over there. I overheard her bribin' him…"

"That would explain how she won," Zoro said.

Chas stood to her feet. "If we plan on gettin' anywhere in this competition, we're goin' to have to play along." Chas then looked to Zoro and smiled as she held out her hand. "Ya in?"

Zoro stood to his feet and shook Chas's hand, smirking deviously like she was. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

**Hope ya enjoyed! Remember to check out Tumblr for recent news and updates! Have a good day! See you all later!**


	29. Chapter 29

**The following songs have not been translated into English…deal with it. Also, all songs mention in this chapter, previous chapters, or future chapters can be found on Tumblr to listen to (link to page in my profile).**

* * *

On the next night, the others had gotten word of Chas's plan to play along with Hangman Lang's crew. At first, they didn't agree, but after thinking it over, they couldn't let anyone get their hands on that Eternal Log Pose.

"All right," Nami said, slamming down her glass, "change of plans! Luffy"-Luffy looked up from his meat-"you're not going on tonight!"

"WHAT?!" Brook, Chopper, and Usopp shouted.

"Instead…" Nami pointed to Chopper. "Chopper's going on in your place!"

Another "what" echoed in the room, making most of the giant men around stare at the Straw Hats. But after seeing it was nothing, they ignored everything further from the crew.

Before Chopper could even give any objections, the show began and Brook had dragged him off to stage, crying.

"Ya really think it's a good idea?" Chas said, biting down on an unlit cigarette, which was soon lit by Sanji before he lit his own.

"It'll be fine," Nami said, winking. Chas soon smiled in reply, having full trust in Nami and the others.

The light dimed in the room and the spotlight was shining on the stage, revealing Chopper sitting on a stool, shaking as he held the microphone.

"He doesn't look so good…" Usopp said.

"You looked the same way," Zoro laughed.

"And see how that turned out?" Chas chuckled with a smile, which received a glare from Usopp.

Chopper looked around the room and saw his friends sitting in the back, all giving him a thumbs up. Chopper smiled and giggled a bit, happy that he had such support from them. Soon the music began, and he began singing as he swayed to the music. He looked like he was on Cloud Nine with his smile and small blush.

_Ribon no tsuita hako wo mottara_

_Shiawase na kao ni naccau da kara_

_Purezento to ha sugoin da_

_Naosenai byouki mo naorunda Yeah, yeah_

_Daiji na monotte tabun dare demo_

_Daiji na hito ni noratta nani ka_

_Puresento to ha sugoin da_

_Nakusenai kimochi wo moraun da_

_Yeah, Yeah_

Most of the large men were swaying a long with the music, which surprised most of the Straw Hats. Except Nami, who was smiling triumphantly with Chas. It seemed their plan had worked, much to Hangman Lang's shock.

_Kokoro ni kiku kusrui_

_Ureshii kuse ni_

_Omowazu borori_

_Ore kara kimi he kimi kara tomo he_

_Nakama kara nakama he puresento wo okurou_

_Purezento wo okurou waai waai_

_Hanataba motte doko iku no ka na? _

_Nandaka choppuri waratteru _

_Purezento to ha sugoin da _

_Watasanai ma mo ureshiin da__Yeah Yeah _

_Katachi no nai omoi _

_One ni aru chikai _

_Hajimatta mirai _

_Ore kara kimi he kimi kara tomo he _

_Nakama kara nakama he purezento wo okurou_

_Purezento wo okurou__waai__waai _

_Ore kara kimi he kimi kara ore he _

_Dare kara dare he purezento wo okurou _

_Purezento wo okurou _

_Ore kara kimi he kimi no tonari he _

_Te wo tsunagi nakama he purezento no uta wo _

_Purezento wo okurou! purezento wo okurou!_

_Purezento wo okurou! Purezento wo okurou!_

_Purezento wo okurou! Purezento wo okurou!_

_Purezento wo okurou! Yeah Yeah_

When the song was finished, Chopper bowed and the bar erupted into cheers for him. He ran over to his team, receiving giant hugs from Nami and Chas (at the same time so he was squashed between them) who congratulated him on doing so well. Chopper blushed and said, "Stop praising me, Assholes!" He then did the dance he usually did when embarrassed but tried not showing it. He was truly flattered by all the attention.

"Way to go, Chopper!" Luffy and Usopp cheered.

"I say this calls for more drinks!" Franky said, holding up his empty cola bottle.

"Agreed!" Chas cheered.

"Enough for you," Zoro said, taking Chas's bottle away from her.

"I'm not even drunk!" Chas shouted at him, making everyone laugh.

Soon, all the laughter and stopped when Hangman Lang came over with his crew. "Well, well, job well done, Straw Hats."

"Oh, the hanging guy…" Luffy said, as if not remembering the guy's name.

Lang paid no mind and continued with what he came to talk about. "I'm sorry to say, but even after that number, your crew won't be able to surpass us, Strawhat Luffy."

Luffy tilted his head.

"I think that's where yer wrong," Chas said, smiling.

"We have a few tricks up our sleeves," Nami said, crossing her arms.

"Huh?" Luffy said. "But you two aren't wearing sleeves!" Before Luffy could even say anymore, Usopp had covered Luffy's mouth and nervously laughed when Lang glared at them.

"Vera," Lang said, looking to the woman next to him, "you had something you want to say, right?"

"Yes, Captain," Vera said.

Chas soon felt a splitting pain in her foot and when she looked down, she noticed Vera's heel in her foot. Of course, she dealt with it so the others didn't notice, but it was hard when they were all staring at her to hear out Vera.

"You made a _big _mistake, Little Red," Vera snarled in Chas's ear. "It seems like you and your pansy friends are asking to be our enemies."

"Really?" Chas chuckled, trying to hold back a scream as Vera dug her heel in Chas's exposed foot. "I thought we were trying to be yer friends."

Vera couldn't hold back her anger any longer and had Wylie and Toby slam Chas's head into the table, not wanting to dirty her hands. This shocked everyone there. Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy all stood to their feet, ready to jump in, but Robin held them back telling them that Lang was wishing for them to react into a fight.

"Mark my words, Red," Vera snarled. "You'll regret ever getting into this competition!" She then walked away after a quick laugh with Lang and the others.

"Count on it!" Chas said, throwing a thumbs up at to Vera as Chas continued to use her other hand for her sore nose.

"Chas!" Chopper shouted, hopping onto the table and running over to her. He pulled her hand away to see her nose dripping blood and having a small cut on the skin. "Oh dear…"

"Are you all right, Chas?" Usopp said, peeking behind Chopper.

"Looks like it hurts," Luffy said, picking his own nose.

"Of course it hurts!" Chas shouted at him.

"They're going to pay for this…" Sanji grumbled, his hand going into a fist as he watched Lang and his crew laugh and drink together.

"There's nothing we can do," Nami said, helping Chopper tend to Chas's nose. "The rules say no fighting."

"Then what do you call what just happened?" Zoro said.

"Threatening?" Brook questioned, tilting his head.

"Just some friendly competition," Robin said, smiling.

"Does that mean we can kick their asses after the competition?" Luffy asked, looking to Nami. Nami nodded in response.

"Great," Zoro said, smiling mischievously.

"I look forward to beating those two shit heads in compensation for hurting my dear Chas-san," Sanji said, smirking and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I call dibs on the captain!" Luffy cheered, smiling.

Chas laughed, but was soon scolded by Chopper to stop moving while he put a Band-Aid on her nose.

Soon after Chopper had finished tending to Chas, the judge came to the stage to say that Candi Red's team had been eliminated from the competition. Many people shouted for a reason and were given "Candi Red and his crew were taken by the marines, who had recently landed on the island." After that said, the competition continued and Toby from Hangman Lang's crew went on stage to sing, singing the song, "New World", which Brook was very angered to hear coming from such a man. Zoro had to hold Brook back from going up on stage and showing the man how to sing the song properly.

Later, the results were given and the Straw Hats had managed to win that round, that day, but sadly they were still far from returning to the top of the rankings.

* * *

**Quick question answer (and this is the only time I will do so on here, other times it ALL on Tumblr or through PM, cuz I don't like these end notes things) for Savage Kill: Uh...I don't know... I haven't gotten that far. But I can tell you they're not going to kiss either here, next chapter or ten chapters from now (maybe). This isn't a short story, NONE of my stories are short. They might kiss by accident or something, but not a "This is the end of the story" kiss. And they won't be together half way through this story, I promise you that (I just don't write that way, sorry). Although, I will tell you this: Zoro figures out his feelings before Chas figures out her's. It's kind of "I want to win your heart over before someone else does" in this case it's before Sanji can win her over instead. I think that answers your question...I think... But that's all I can tell ya here.**


	30. Chapter 30

"It's Chas's turn tonight, right?" Chopper asked, looking to Nami.

"That's right," Nami answered.

"Any idea what's she going to be doing?" Sanji asked, lighting his cigarette.

Nami shook her head with a sigh. "I have no idea. Chas mentioned nothing about what she was doing." Nami put a finger to her chin. "Although, she did seem a bit…wobbly."

"Wobbly?" Usopp questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's been tripping over her own feet all day," Franky said. "It's like she hurt her foot from the way she's been walking around."

"Has anyone seen Brook?" Nami asked, looking to the empty chair.

"He went back stage earlier to help Chas," Usopp said, smiling as he pointed towards the stage.

Soon the lights in the hall dimed and a spot light was on the stage, showing the woman that was now standing there. Her red hair was curled and quite long, falling gracefully over her shoulders onto her pushed up chest from red and black corset around her abdomen. Attached the corset was a skirt to match, reaching half way to her thigh, allowing her long legs and red shoes to show. Sadly, the Straw Hats didn't know who this woman was due to the brown hat and feather in her slim hand covering her face. They only managed to get a small glance of her smooth, porcelain looking, skin and red lips. To the group, the hat looked familiar, but they couldn't remember where they had seen it before.

"She's gorgeous!" Sanji said, hearts in his eyes and blood dripping from his nose as he admired the woman. "I must know who such a beauty is!"

"Suuuuper!" Franky said, gawking like the rest of the men at the table.

"W-Who is that?" Usopp and Chopper stuttered, their faces red but with smiles.

Robin giggled, knowing exactly who she was looking at and finding it rather musing that the others didn't know who it was. Even Nami found it funny from the way everyone was reacting.

"Why is she wearing such tight clothing?" Luffy asked, looking at Nami with a grimace. He scratched his head. "How's she supposed to breathe with that?"

Sanji made a fist with his hand and hit Luffy on top of his head. "Stop asking stupid questions!"

Chopper looked back over his shoulder and grimaced when he saw Zoro's shocked, and unmoving, expression. "I think Zoro broke!" Everyone turned around and looked at him only to want to laugh at the wide eyed and opened mouth expression he was showing. It seems that Zoro knew who was up on stage.

After a while, Zoro had processed what Chopper had just said and snapped with a light blush covering his cheeks. "Shut up, Chopper! I'm not broken!"

"But you were gawking," Usopp teased, laughing.

"I was not!" Zoro growled with a glare. Usopp then backed off, along with Luffy and Chopper who had joined in with the teasing. Zoro crossed his arms and looked back to the stage, scowling. _Damn…I'm getting too worked up over this… _he thought. _Maybe I was right in thinking I-_

Before Zoro could finish his thought, music interrupted them all and their eyes were back on the stage. The woman standing there began bouncing her hips to the tempo of the music and soon her mouth was moving, singing out very familiar lyrics to all in the room.

_Yo-hohoho, yohohohoo_

_Yo-hohoho, yohohohoo_

_Yo-hohoho, yohohohoo_

_Yo-hohoho, yohohohoo_

"Her voice is that of an angel!" Sanji cheered. He looked back to stage and his face paled a bit when finding the woman had removed her hat. To everyone's surprise, especially to every male sitting at the table, it was Chas who was singing.

Luffy immediately started laughing at everyone's expression, finding it a bit too funny for words.

Chas smiled as she continued her song, ignoring her fellow crewmen's arguing in the back of the room and Brook's laughing from the piano.

_Going to deliver Binks's Sake (Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo)_

_Following the sea breeze, riding on the waves (Jmkaze kimakase namimakase)_

_Far across the salty depths, the merry evening sun (Shio no mukou de, yuhi mo sawagu)_

_The birds singing as they draw circles in the sky (Sora nya wa wo kaku tori no uta)_

_Farewell to the harbor, to my old hometown (Sayonara minato, tsumugi no sato yo)_

_Let's all sing out with a boom as the ship sets sail (don to icchou utao, funade no uta)_

_Waves of gold and silver dissolve to salty spray (kinpa-ginpa mo shibuki no kaete)_

_As we all set sail to the ends of the sea (oretacha yuku zo umi no kagiri)_

Chas stepped off the stage and walked around, flaunting herself towards the gentlemen that were staring at her. She receive many whistles and shouts from the people in the room. Even Usopp, Franky, Brook, and Sanji were whistling and rooting for her while the others just sat there, smiling to themselves.

Zoro on the other hand wasn't doing any of these things, instead he just sat there, and stared, wondering to himself how he could be so attracted to her. He found the whistles and flirtatious shouts rather annoying (more annoying than they should be) and soon found himself holding Luffy by his throat when he began teasing him again.

_Going to deliver Binks's sake (Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo)_

_We are pirates sailing through the sea (warera kaizoku, umi watteku)_

_The waves are our pillows, the ship our roost (nami wo makura ni nergura wa fune yo)_

_Flying the proud skull on out flags and our sails (ho ni hata ni ketateru wa dokuro)_

_Now come a storm through the far-off sky (arashi ga kita zo, senri no sora ni)_

_Now the waves are dancing, beat upon the drums (nami ga odoru yo doramu narase)_

_If you lose your nerves, this breath could be your last (okukyoukaze ni fukarerya saigo)_

_But if you just hold on, the morning sun will rise (asu no asahi ga nai ja nashi)_

_Yo-hohoho, yohohohoo…_

Chas glanced to her side, carefully keeping an eye on Hangman Lang, Vera, Toby, Wylie, and Elias. They were talking among themselves, but from the way Hangman Lang was making a fist, which was breaking his glass, they weren't happy with how Chas was holding the attention of the crowd.

Chas picked up her hat from a nearby pirate who was ogling her. In return to his ogling she knocked over his chair and walked away with a flirtatious smile, continuing on with the lyrics. The pirate didn't mind, saying as he was drunk on whatever alcohol he was drinking, and laughed it right off. He didn't even notice Chas trip a bit from her hurt foot.

_Damn Vera… _Chas thought. _I don't know if I can keep standin' much longer… _

_Going to deliver Binks's sake (Binkusu no sake wo, todoke no yuku yo)_

_Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night (kyou ka asu ka to yoi no yume)_

_Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again (te wo furu kage ni mou aenai yo)_

_But don't look so down, for at night the moon will rise (nani wo kuyukuyo, asu mo tsukuyo)_

_Going to deliver Binks's sake_

_Let's all sing it with a boom, a song of the waves (don to icchou utai unaba no uta)_

_Doesn't matter who you are, someday you'll just be bones (douse dare demo itsuka wa hone yo)_

_Never-ending, ever-wandering, our funny traveling tale (Hatenashi, atenashi, waraibanashi)_

As Chas was singing the last bit of "Yo-hohoho, yohohohoo"s, she sat down on one of the tables and crossed her legs, smirking at how much attention she had gotten. She had a feeling she was better than Vera's flaunting behavior.

As soon as the spotlight shut off, returning the normal lighting of the bar, and music stopped, Chas shut her eyes, releasing a sigh, and flipped her hair over her shoulders. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to find herself surrounded by a few drunk pirates asking her to spend some time with them.

Zoro and Sanji stood to their feet, about to punch any man that needed to be punched (which was pretty much every man staring at her). But it seemed that was completely unnecessary when Chas suddenly smiled to the men around her and they backed off.

Chas slowly stood to her feet and walked back over to her group, smiling nervously as they looked at her.

"That was wonderful, Chas!" Chopper said when Chas was walking towards them.

"I'm sure we're going to win now!" Nami cheered.

"We were going to win from the beginning," Robin said, smiling. She then continued to hum 'Bink's Sake' to herself as she read.

Chas maneuvered around the table and was a bit a ways from her chair. But before she could reach the chair, she tripped and fell right into Sanji, who gladly caught her (much to Zoro's resentment).

"Are you all right?" Sanji asked, looking down to Chas.

Chas pulled herself from Sanji and answered, "Y-Yeah…I'm fine…" She then looked up to Sanji and smiled calmly. "Thanks, Black Leg." Sanji turned to stone immediately and felt like his heart had been pierced by an arrow. Her smile was so beautiful, and in that outfit it just made it even brighter.

Chas quickly stepped away from him only to be surprised by a jacket draping over her shoulders. She looked and saw it was Zoro's jacket resting on her shoulders. She immediately looked to him.

"Quit having everything out there," he said with a scowl. "It's disgusting."

Chas glared at him. "Shut up, Mochi!"

"Take your own advice, Dango!"

The argument went back and forth continuously.

"Lover's spat?" Franky questioned with a smirk and a tilt of his head towards Robin.

Robin giggled. "Sounds like it."

"Will you shut up?!" Chas and Zoro shouted, their faces turning red.

In all the arguing, and soon yelling at Chas for keeping her injured foot a secret from Chopper, the Straw Hats had failed to notice Hangman Lang and his crew watching, secretly planning for their revenge.

* * *

**A short and meaningless chapter, I know. But there are reasons behind that. Of course Tumblr has the answer! And i know, it's annoying with me staying that all the time, but ya really should check it out! Because this might, and hopefully, be my last end note! So you won't hear from me anymore after this!**

**See ya all there! Goodbye!**


	31. Chapter 31

**The song is ROUGHLY translated, since when I found it is was all one paragraph…and what they say doesn't have the Japanese portion, so you're stuck with English. Have fun!**

* * *

"You three are really going to preform today?" Chas questioned, along with Usopp, Chopper, and Brook.

"Yep!" Luffy said, putting his hands on his hips.

It was now the fifth day of the competition and so far the Straw Hats were still losing to Hangman Lang's crew. Of course, Chas's performance yesterday boosted them up, but they were lacking by a few points to beat the competition. To make things worse, Lang's group earned double the points yesterday when Wylie sang, which must have been due to Vera's flirting with the judge seeing as the man was a terrible singer. Sadly, Chas lost by two points the other night, leaving the score unresolved and Chas rather pissed.

"Are you sure about this, Nami?" Franky asked, looking to the orange haired girl next to him.

"Positive!" Nami said, smiling as she leaned back in her chair. "Luffy knows not to screw up!"

"We'll win this for sure!" Luffy said, throwing up a fist as he spinning around a few times on the Thousand Sunny's deck.

"No doubts about it," Sanji said, smirking as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"We'll drive them into the dust," Zoro said, with a similar, and confident, smirk like Sanji.

"This isn't a battle of strength," Chas said, glaring at Zoro.

"I know that, Anmitsu!" Zoro said, leaning against Chas's hurt foot which had been propped up on a chair. Chas, in turn, pulled it away and held her leg, trying to hold back a scream.

"Dammit, Marimo!" Sanji shouted angrily. "Stop hurting my dear Chas-san!"

"She's not yours!" Zoro shouted back, almost drawing his sword on Sanji, but Luffy popped between the two.

"But I thought she was yours…" Luffy said, tilting his head, innocently. "That's what Brook said…"

Zoro looked to Brook who just laughed nervously and soon began running with the swordsman chasing after him. Pretty soon, Sanji and Luffy were also chasing the skeleton around. At some point the poor musician had been caught and was practically getting pulled apart by Zoro and Sanji, but Luffy kept out of it and laughed, thinking it was funny

"OH!" Nami said, just remembering what she wanted to ask. "Chas, want to go shopping with Robin and I?"

Chas looked to Robin and Nami, both females smiling at her. Chas was hesitant to answer at first, but soon replied with, "Ya sure ya want me comin'?"

"Of course," Robin said. "Consider this our 'girls day out'."

"Plus you said you needed some new clothes anyway, right?" Nami said.

"Yeah, but-" Before Chas could say anything else, she was dragged from her seat (her and her handmade crutches from Usopp) and taken off the ship towards town.

"We'll meet you all at the bar tonight!" Nami called, waving to the boys on deck.

Thus, the beginning of their "Girls Day Out" began, only to end up in trouble soon after.

"What about this?" Nami asked, holding up another blouse towards Chas. She looked back to Robin as she looked over the blouse with careful consideration. Robin then shook her head.

"Tell me again why I'm bein' treated like a doll?" Cha said, leaning onto her left crutch.

"You're not being treated like a doll!" Nami said, placing her hands on her hips. "We're just…giving you some fashion tips."

"Nami, what about this one?" Robin interrupted, showing the girl a light blue sundress.

Nami turned around and smiled happily. "Perfect, Robin!" She then quickly took it and looked to Chas. "All right, Chas, time to change!"

"I don't wanna…" Chas whined. "It's too bright…" Chas didn't _do _light, girly, colors, nor did she do dresses. She hated them. That might have been Smoker's fault when he was raising her, but it was hard telling.

"Too bad!" Nami said, pushing Chas towards the changing room. One inside, Nami closed the curtain behind her and stripped a very reluctant Chas who had no choice but to oblige to the navigator's wishes.

Robin, who waited outside picking and choosing more clothes, chuckled at hearing Chas and Nami argue. It was good to have a calming day like this.

"Done!" Nami chimed, pulling back the curtain and stepping out. She then pulled Chas out to show Robin, who smiled. "What do ya think, Robin?"

"It looks cute," Robin said.

"I miss my shorts…" Chas mumbled, scowling as she looked in the mirror. Sure, it didn't look as bad as she expected, but it still didn't feel right to her.

"All right, now you just got to try all these on," Nami said, carrying an immense pile of clothes in her arms.

Chas could only stare as she pictured her hard hearted appearance shattering in a matter of minutes.

After about three hours, the girls paused from their shopping spree and went to have lunch at a nice restaurant found down the street. It was calming and best of all it was filled with all sorts of eye-candy.

"Please tell me that last shop was the end of this expedition," Chas sighed as she rested her head against the table.

"The day isn't even over yet!" Nami said with a smile. "We still have time to hit five more shops!"

Chas grumbled, banging her head against the table. "I don't ever want to see another shopping bag after this…" Chas sat up and looked to Robin. Her eyes hadn't left the window. "Robin, somethin' wrong?"

Robin looked to Chas and Nami with a smile. "I was just thinking that those men over there have been following us for some time now."

Nami and Chas looked out the window to see three, large, men standing across the street.

The first man seemed the least intimidating out of the three. He wore green turtle neck shirt with brown pants and black shoes. His left eye was covered with an eye-patch and it looked like he was missing a finger on his right hand.

The second man was shirtless, showing off his many tattoos he had most likely gotten around the seas, and had gray shorts on with brown, ragged, shoes. His hair was spiked, looking like if he rammed someone with it they would most likely get pierced through, and his left ear had two earrings on it. His narrow green eyes gave Nami and Chas a small shiver.

The third, and last one, seemed like the one who had been in the most fights. His left hand was missing, along with the sleeve of his red and yellow shirt. His jeans had holes everywhere, except in the important places, and his shoes were scratched beyond recognition. The left side of his face had on 'x' on it and then the right side held a scar going straight down his face.

"Well, scary guys followin' cute girls," Chas said, her eyes slanting a bit from boredom, "haven't seen that before…"

"But don't you find the behavior odd?" Robin said.

"I do," Nami said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "They would have come up to us by now!"

Chas rolled her eyes with a small laugh. She looked back out the window to see the men talking among each other, then make their way across the street. "I think yer gettin' yer wish, Miss Navigator."

Pretty soon, the three men were standing right next to the girls, smiling and seeming rather polite.

"Hello ladies," the second one said, "would you mind if we have a few words with you?"

Chas darted her eyes towards the third one. "Nami, duck." Nami looked towards Chas, but did as the girl said and ducked. Chas grabbed her crutch and swung it at the third man making the knife he was holding out fly out of his hands and into a nearby wall.

Robin had used her multiple hands to pull the feet out from under the men, letting the three girls have some time before the three men tried attacking again.

"Dammit, Harrison!" the second man shouted to the third as they began running after the girls. "You had one job! One job and you blew it!"

"Like you could do better, Jack!" Harrison shouted.

"You three must be part of Hangman Lang's crew, correct?" Robin said.

"That's right!" first man said, his name still unknown. "Boss told us to _take care _of the brat with the broken foot."

"Isn't fighting against the rules?" Nami said, eyeing each man.

"Only when yer in the bar," Harrison said. He then threw a punch towards Robin, but Robin quickly pulled the man's feet out from under him again. When he was on the ground, she wrapped him up in her hands. She then smiled calmly, showing she was victorious.

"You take left I take right?" Chas questioned looking to Nami.

"Sounds good to me," Nami said, pulling out her pole and swinging it towards Jack, but he quickly caught it.

"Nice try, Little Girl," Jack laughed, before he was electrocuted.

"Thank you," Nami said. She pulled her pole back and slammed it against the man's side, sending him flying into his friend that Robin had down. But both quickly got to their feet again, but were soon both stopped when Robin wrapped her hands around them, turning them into human pretzels.

Chas grabbed both her crutches and spun them in her hands like they were batons.

"Make your move," Harrison said, charging towards her. Chas swiftly hit him in the shoulder with her crutch, then knocked out his feet. Harrison took his chance to knock her down by kicking her hurt foot, which indeed did get her down like he hoped. But it also made her very angry, which probably wasn't the best thing.

"Cheap shot, Man!" Chas shouted, gripping her leg.

"So what?!" Harrison shouted about to punch her, but he was cut short when Chas kicked him right in the jaw as she back flipped onto her feet again. She released a breath, holding up her arms triumphantly. A six out of ten is what the owner of the building gave her, literally.

"Think Hangman Lang gets the message?" Nami said, cocking a hip and looking to her friends.

"I'm pretty sure he'll understand," Chas said, pointing to Harrison's comatose face which was covered in writing. "If not, we'll give it to him personally."

"Agreed," Robin said, letting her hands release Jack and the other man.

The three girls grabbed their bags and left the restaurant, after getting kicked out by the owner that is. They then made their way down the street towards the other shops.

* * *

_That Night at Orange Charade Bar:_

"How's your foot feeling, Chas?" Chas said, handing the girl a glass of water.

"Great," Chas said with a laugh, "ever since ya gave me those drugs!" Chas took the water from Chopper and began drinking it.

"I have a feeling those might have not been a good idea," Usopp said, biting his fingers when he saw Chas finished off the glass without taking a breath.

"At least it's making her feel good!" Brook said with a laugh.

All conversation stopped when the lights dimmed in the room and the show began.

Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy stood on stage, holding mic in their hands. At first, the two older gentlemen didn't seem very enthused about being up there while their captain seemed over joyed. But as soon as they began singing, it was like they were enjoying it, even if it was just a little.

_Respect! Our future (RESPECT! Ore-tachi no mirai)_

_The connecting sky (Tsunagatteru sora)_

_A freedom which can never be beaten by anyone. Glorify, glorify! (Dare ni mo makenai jiyuu ouka ouka!)_

_Respect! I won't make promises (RESPECT! Yakusoku wa shinai)_

_Till my dream is fulfilled (Yume nakamau made)_

_I'll go along with you, feeling fantastic! (Tsukiatte yaru ze kibun FANTASTIC)_

Zoro was the first to sing his part, which surprised Chas a bit. At first, she figured Zoro was a terrible singer (figuring since she had heard him in the shower once) but when she heard him again, this time, she couldn't say he wasn't all that bad. She found herself entranced.

_I don't believe in destiny (Unmei nante shinjichainai)_

_Like the wind I want to be myself (Kaze no mama ni jibun de itai)_

Next was Sanji with his melodic voice.

_Just being here makes my heart dance (Koko ni iru dake de mune ga odoru)_

_There is a future just that is enough (Mirai ga aru sore dake de ii)_

Then the third was Luffy, with a somewhat childish voice.

_The ocean is vast I'll do it! (Umi wa hiroi te ore wa yaruze!)_

_Skip the difficult things! Anyways, together let's go! (Muzukashii koto wa nuki! Toriaezu issho no ikou te!)_

After that, all three began singing again, later cutting off into their own given sections after saying a few things.

_Respect! Our world (RESPECT! Ore-tachi no sekai)_

_Because we understand each other (Wakariaeru kara)_

_No need for crap talk, don't mind don't mind! (Yokeina hanashi muyou DON'T MIND DON'T MIND!)_

_Respect! I won't do things like forget (RESPECT! Wasuretari wa shinai)_

_It came to my chest all at once (Mune ni gutto kita)_

_The basics of things like companions are Fantastc! (Nakamatte yatsu sa kibun FANTASTIC!)_

[Luffy: I am the guy who will become the Pirate King!]

[Zoro: I will never lose again! Do you have any complaints, Pirate King?]

[Sanji: I shall be accompanying you, eh, Pirate King?]

_Sanji: In the ever changing process of rebirth (Umarekawaru tabi ni hito wa)_

_People become stronger, the spring of the heart (Tsuyoku nareru kokoro no bane)_

_Zoro: Alone but no alone (Hitori dakeredo hitori janai)_

_We have acknowledgeable PRIDE (Mitomearu PRIDE ga aru)_

_Luffy: Dreams are huge, I've decided (Yume wa dekai te ore wa kimeta ze!)_

_It's impossible if one is missing, to wherever end let's play it loud! (Hitori demo kakecha muri doko made mo hate ni ikou te)_

_All:_ _Respect! Our future (RESPECT! Ore-tachi no mirai)_

_The connecting sky (Tsunagatteru sora)_

_A Freedom which can never be beaten by anyone. Glorify, Glorify! (Dare ni mo makenai jiyuu ouka ouka!)_

_Respect! I won't make promises (RESPECT! Yakusoku wa shinai)_

_Till my dream is fulfilled (Yume nakamau made)_

_I'll go along with you, feeling Fantastic! (Tsukiatte yaru ze kibun FANTASTIC!)_

_Respect! Our world (RESPECT! Ore-tachi no sekai)_

_Because we understand each other (Wakariaeru kara)_

_No need for crap talk, don't mind don't mind! (Yokeina hanashi muyou DON'T MIND DON'T MIND!)_

_Respect! I won't do things like forget (RESPECT! Wasuretari wa shinai)_

_It came to my chest all at once (Mune ni gutto kita)_

_The basics of things like companions are (Nakamatte yatsu sa kibun)_

_Fantastc! (FANTASTIC!)_

_Feeling FANTASTIC! RESPECT! (Kibun FANTASTIC! RESPECT!)_

After that, the room was left cheering and hollering for more. Of course, Hangman Lang and his crew were royally angry with the well-earned feedback given from the crowd.

The three boys high fived each other and then walked back to their fellow nakama, receiving hugs and claps from everyone sitting there.

"Wonderful guys!" Nami said, giving them a thumbs up.

"I never expected you three to suit each other so well," Robin chuckled while she clapped.

Brook laughed joyously raising his arms up into the air. "I knew I wrote the right song for you three!"

"Nice goin' guys!" Chas said, a bit more cheerful than expected. "It was great!" Chas then giggled and hugged Usopp, who had been trying to keep her quite for the past few minutes. It was like she had drank a bit _too _much sherry in the past four minutes.

"Chopper gave her some medication for the pain in her foot," Brook whispered to the three confused youths. "He said she'll be out in a little while, but in the mien time it's made her over exerted."

"AW!" Sanji chimed, kneeling down next to the girl (who paid zero attention to him). "Chas-san, I'm so sorry about your foot! I can't believe I let something like this happen to you! I'll happily kill the person who did this!"

"I think I like Teaspoon like this!" Luffy laughed.

"I don't!" Usopp said, trying to get Chas off of him. "Get her off of me!"

Zoro quickly hit her with the hilt of his sword, knocking her out. He then rested her on another chair so Usopp didn't have to deal with her any longer.

"Maybe I gave her a bit _too _much," Chopper said over Sanji and Zoro's shouting.

"You're a doctor!" everyone shouted at him. "Shouldn't you have thought of that before giving it to her?!"

"Actually," Franky said, looking to the glass Chopper had given Chas earlier and sniffing it, "it might have been what she drank."

Zoro took the glass from Franky's outstretched hand and sniffed it himself. Alcohol. Strong alcohol from the smell.

"She's drunk?" Luffy questioned as he poked Chas's cheek. "I thought she never got drunk."

"Seems like it," Sanji said, crossing his arms. "Guess even Chas-san isn't immune to all alcohol."

"But I'm sure that was water earlier…" Chopper said, looking at the glass. His jaw then dropped when he realized this wasn't the glass he had grabbed earlier. It was a different one. "I accidently grabbed the wrong one!"

"I don't think that's the case, Chopper," Robin said, pointing to the red mark on the glass. "I believe it was switched."

"Most likely by Vera from Hangman Lang's crew…" Nami said. "They did attack us today in town."

"Either way," Franky said, crossing his arms, "we should take her back to the Sunny before she wakes up and causes anymore trouble."

"I'll go," Zoro said with a sigh. "I'm tired of being here anyway…" Zoro then picked up Chas, slinging her over his shoulder and heading towards the door without another word.


	32. Chapter 32

"Damn it…" Zoro said, eyeing another dead end in front of him. He sighed and turned around, beginning to head back the way he came. "Why are there so many dead ends in this town…?" To be honest, Zoro was lost. He had been for quite a while now. But with Zoro being the way he was, he didn't realize it, nor did he admit if he did know.

Zoro soon stopped walking, looking back over his shoulder. Maybe it's all in my head… he thought, looking around.

Chas snuggled against his chest, mumbling something the swordsman knew were words but just couldn't understand.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Zoro said, rolling his eyes. He began walking again, forgetting the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. The sound of sand crutching beneath his feet echoed through the night air, but it wasn't alone. Zoro knew there was someone behind him, no doubt about it. He soon stopped and glanced back over his shoulder, popping one of his swords from its sheath slightly. He noticed something coming towards him, so he drew his sword and sliced it, realizing that it had been a dagger.

Zoro looked up and saw two large men standing in front of him, two of the men who attacked Nami, Robin, and Chas in town earlier that day.

"Hand over the girl, Roronoa Zoro," Jack said, pulling out two swords. "And we'll take it easy."

Zoro stood there, partially surprised at Jack's straightforwardness, but completely ignored it further. He placed Chas on the ground, propping her up against a wall and pulled out another sword.

"U-Uh, Jack," Harrison said, noticing the look on Zoro's face: confident and vicious, "are you sure this is a good idea? Boss told us to grab the girl and forget about the swordsman. I don't think it's good to fight _the _Roronoa Zoro."

"Oh come on!" Jack said. "It's all a bunch a half-assed rumors. There's no way a man can-"

"I think it would be better the rethink that statement," Zoro said, smiling as he stepped forward.

Jack and Harrison stood there looking at Zoro, but were soon standing in fear as the monster was unleashed.

* * *

_Morning the Next Day:_

"Are you sure you're going to be up to performing tonight, Chas?" Nami asked.

Chas was pale, clammy, and had the worst headache imaginable. She couldn't remember the last time she had such a bad hangover like this. "Yeah…I'll be fine by this evenin'…" Chas felt her breakfast turning in her stomach. "Maybe…"

"That one glass sure did a number on you," Franky said. He then began laughing.

"It's the reason I don't drink vodka…" Chas mumbled, resting her head against the table.

"Oi, Zoro," Luffy said, crossing his arms and looking to the swordsman, "you said you were attacked last night, right?"

Zoro nodded as he crossed his arms. "Yeah. But it's not like it posed a problem." Zoro smiled. "I highly doubt they'll be able to do it again."

"But I do wonder," Brook said, putting a finger to his chin. "Why are they only going after Chas? Why not the rest of us?"

"Maybe they wanted the journal," Robin said, crossing his legs.

"She might be right," Chas groaned, she turned her head to face everyone, not having the energy to fully get it off the table. "It wasn't a real big secret that I had it. Plenty of people had come after me before."

"How did you get it in the first place?" Nami questioned.

Chas scratched her head. "I found it."

"Found it?" Chopper questioned, tilting his head.

"Yeah," Chas replied. She lifted her head, leaning back against the bench. "I found it somewhere in the North Blue… I can't remember where though. All I know is that after I found it, people tried comin' after it, like it held some greater meanin' then just leadin' to a treasure." Chas sighed. "It's just a regular journal, I didn't see what the big deal about it is was." Chas closed her eyes, trying to remember more. "After that, I decided to take it to someone I trusted. I figured he knew what it was and would be able to help."

"Who'd you show it to?" Usopp asked.

Chas rubbed her head some more. "Uh… Captain of the Red Hair Pirates, I think…" Everyone lifted an eyebrow.

Luffy perked up at the sound of a familiar name. "Shanks? You showed the journal to Shanks?"

Chas scratched her head, frustrated with herself. "To be honest, the whole thin's foggy still…"

Luffy's face brightened. "If you showed it to Shanks then he must have known what it was, right?!"

Chas frowned and grumbled. "Sorry to burst yer bubble, but he had absolutely no idea what it was, I can remember that much."

"He must had at least told you something," Nami said, rolling her shoulders.

Chas hummed, trying her best to remember what had happened. Sadly, her memory of the whole thing was very foggy after having gotten hit in the head shortly afterwards. She knew something must have happened, there must have been some information that she was given and just couldn't remember.

Everyone waited patiently for Chas to answer.

"You shouldn't strain yourself trying to remember, Chas," Chopper said, resting his hooves on Chas's shoulders, before she startled him with her "Ah ha!"

"He did say one thin'!" Chas said with a smile, before the faded when she remembered her headache and turning stomach.

"What'd he say then?" Usopp asked.

"He said…"

* * *

_Shanks flipped the journal over, multiple times, looking at the front and back of the tattered piece of junk. He then opened it up, looking at the writing and then flipped through the pages, holding it every which way he could with his one hand._

"_Quit playin' around, Shanks!" Chas shouted, slamming down the book onto the wooden box between her and the older chap. "Do ya know what it is or not?"_

"_No idea," Shanks said, laughing wholeheartedly._

_Chas rubbed her face, releasing a long sigh._

"_But I can tell you," Shanks continued, smiling at the girl, "you found a real treasure." Shanks rubbed Chas's head, which caused her to scowl at him. "Maybe you don't see it right now, but you'll see the light in it someday."_

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Chas asked, slapping his hand away, which he laughed about. "Ya know what it is, don't ya?!"_

_Shanks laughed as the young girl continued to try and pester him about giving her any answer instead of a riddle. Shanks refused to give her the answer she wanted and simply told her to keep it safe, because if it got into the wrong hands then there would be trouble for everyone._

* * *

"That's all he said," Chas finished, shrugging with a scowl.

"Well," Nami said, taking a breath, "looks like we're pretty much back at square one." Nami sat down, sighing.

"Not necessarily," Robin said, smiling. "We did get somewhere with this story."

"Think of it this way," Usopp said, crossing his arms confidently, "we win this competition we might be able to figure out this mystery!"

"That might be easier said than done," Zoro said, pointing over his shoulder towards Chas who was coughing into a bucket Chopper had given to her. It looks like things had gotten just a bit more difficult for them.


	33. Chapter 33

"You sure you'll be all right, Chas?" Usopp asked, peaking at the girl's face with Luffy and Chopper next to him. "You still seem a bit pale."

"Maybe we should have someone else perform with Chopper tonight," Nami said, putting a hand to her chin and crossing her other arm over her chest.

"No, no," Chas said, standing with her good foot, "I'm fine, really." Chas felt her stomach flop a bit, but nothing she couldn't handle. After taking the medicine Chopper gave her earlier, she felt better then how she did that morning. "The medicine really helped."

"Damn, and I was hoping you were down for the count." Chas turned around to see Vera, smirking as she had her hand on her hip. "I guess that was too much to ask for."

"So it _was _you who switched the glasses!" Usopp said, pointing to Vera.

"Now, now," Vera said, pushing Usopp's finger away from her face, "there's no need to give me _all _the credit. I was just following orders, like I should be doing." Vera stepped past Usopp and towards Chas, who backed up a bit before running into the table. Vera stopped a few feet from Chas, holding out her hand. "I came to wish you luck, knowing you'll need it more than we will."

Chas looked to Vera's hand, eyeing it suspiciously.

"Oh come on," Vera said, smiling, "it's just a hand."

Everyone eyed the interaction between both women, but soon began laughing when Vera was dowsed in water. It seemed Franky had tripped someone who was holding a jug of water and it ended up splashing all over her.

Chas ended up high-fiving Franky for his quick thinking, but was soon gripped on the collar by Vera, who was steaming with rage.

"I'd watch your back if I were you, Little Red," Vera sneered to a laughing Chas. "You _and _your friends." Vera then shoved Chas. "And I can tell ya, Captain ain't to happy with what your swordsman did to Jack and Harrison yesterday." Vera then walked away, giving her final warning to the Straw Hat crew.

"What the hell did you do to them, Marimo?" Sanji asked, looking to the calm and composed swordsman.

"Nothing that wouldn't heal," Zoro said with a smile.

"Well," Nami said, putting her hands on her hips, "let's forget about that for right now and focus on winning the competition!"

"Right!" everyone cheered before clinking their glasses together and taking one last drink before Chopper and Chas had to go to stage.

"Something wrong Brook?" Usopp asked, looking to the pondering skeleton next to him.

Luffy looked up and to Brook. "Do you have to poop?"

"Quit asking that stupid question!" Nami and Sanji shouted to Luffy, both knocking him on the head.

"No, no," Brook said, still pondering, "I was just thinking…"

"About?" Robin asked with her usual smile.

Brook looked up. "I'm wondering what kind of treasure this journal leads to. It must be something valuable if so many people are wanting it, and it must also be very powerful in Red Haired Shanks told Chas-san to protect it."

"I'm kind of curious myself too," Franky said, crossing his arms. "Brook does have a point about that."

"But if it was so dangerous, would Shanks really leave it to Chas?" Nami asked.

"Probably not," Zoro said, leaning back in his chair. "So it can't be all that bad for what we're making it out to be."

"Even so, it's nothing we can't handle!" Luffy said, waving a hand. He soon pointed towards stage with a large grin. "Chopper and Teaspoon are starting!"

Everyone looked towards stage.

The music slowly began and continued to build, making everyone start tapping their foot to how catchy it was.

_Chopper: Before the sun rises let's head out (yo ga akeru mae ni tabidatou)  
__To greet our unseen tomorrows (mada minu ashita wo mukae no ikou)  
__We have no regrets in our resolve (sou kimeta koto ku wa nai)  
__Oh, I know what I'm supposed to do__  
_

As soon as Chopper ended his part, Chas began which made most of the men in the room go wild, especially when she began dancing.

Luffy, Franky, Usopp, Sanji, and Brook cheered loudly for her and Chopper, rooting them onwards. Zoro, Nami, and Robin remained silent, smiling to themselves while watching the amazing performance full of movement unfold before them.

_Chas: No matter what kind of trials lie ahead (donna shiren ga machiukete iyouto)  
__Nothing can stop my beating heart (takanaru kodou tomerare wa shinai)  
__There is only one place to go (mezasu basho wa tada hitosu)  
__Fly to the light_

_Both: Bonds forged through battle (tatakai no hate ni eta kizuna)  
__I won't let anyone get hurt (dare nimo kizutsukesase wa shinai)  
__When I open my clenched fist (nigiri shimeta te hirakeba)  
__I will find power there (soko ni chikara ga yadoru)_

_So let's starts (saa hajimeyou)  
__The New World is calling (atarashii sekai ga yondeiru)  
__See now look (hora mite goran)  
__No matter how many seas separate us (ikutsu no umi hedatete itato shitemo)  
__I'm always standing by you (itsudatte sasaeteiru)  
__Don't be afraid to advance (osorezu ni mae e)  
__Don't forget (wasurenaide)  
__We fight together_

_Chopper: Birds taking flight on the wind (kaze wo ukete tori ga habataku)  
__Passed through the rainbow towards the future where (ano niji wa kugutta saki ni wa)  
__A flower called hope blooms (Kibou to iu hana ga saku)  
__The flowers will never die_

Chopper spread his arms out and looked up to Chas, smiling brightly.

_Chas: You tucked away a desire reaching out for that place (massugu no nobiteiku sono omoi)  
__Inside your heart (kokoro ni shimaikonda mama ja)  
__Isn't it getting a little tight in there? (kyuukutsu sugi ma shi nai kai)  
__Fly to the light_

Chas returned Chopper's smile, squatting down to his height and poking his chest, which made him laugh. Chas then winked at him before standing back to her feet.

_Both: What can you defend lying to yourself? (itsuwari de nani ga mamoreru)  
__There's no shame falling down on your knees (hiza o tsuku koto ma haji de wa nai)  
__Just always stand back up (tachiagaru sa nan do demo kitto)  
__So we can see each other again (mata aeru kara)_

_So let's starts (saa hajimeyou)  
__The New World is calling (atarashii sekai ga yondeiru)  
__See now look (hora mite goran)  
__No matter how many seas separate us (ikutsu no umi hedatete itato shitemo)  
__I'm always standing by you (itsudatte sasaeteiru)  
__Don't be afraid to advance (osorezu ni mae e)  
__Don't forget (wasurenaide)  
__We fight together_

_Chas: I've never spoiled the memory (kegashita koto wa nai )  
__Of the vast infinite sky that I looked up to that day (ano hi miageta tokomademo takaku hiroi sora)  
__We've come a long way (zuibun to tooku made kita)  
__Each with our own pledge in our heart (sorezore no chikai wo mune ni)  
__There is no doubt (mayoi nado nai)  
__There are things we must carry with us (seou mono ga aru)_

_Chopper: The sun will rise (hi ga nobori)  
__And shine equally on even our sorrows (kanashimi sae hitoshiku terasu)_

_Both: I believe in it (shinjiterunda)  
__The future that will become one piece someday (itsuka hitotsu ni tsunagaru mirai wo)  
__Let's go find it together (issho ni mitsuke ni ikou)  
__You're irreplaceable (kimi no kawari wa inai)  
__Don't forget (wasurenaide)  
__We fight together_

_(Life goes on)_

_(Life goes on)_

_(Life goes on)_

_(Life goes on) _

_(Life goes on)_

_(Life goes on)_

_Chas: Don't forget (wasurenaide)  
__Both: We fight together!_

As soon as the music ended, Chopper jumped onto Chas, hugging her tightly as he cried. Strangely, he wasn't the only one crying in the room. Many of the men had broken down into tears, along with some of the women around. Usopp, Brook, Sanji, and Nami had also broken down into tears, along with three of Hangman Lang's crew (which he soon scolded them for).

Chas, having no other choice, picked up Chopper and took him off stage with her. But when she got to the others, she was tackled by the four that were crying.

"That was so beautiful, Chas-san!" Sanji cried.

"It truly was!" Usopp and Brook chimed.

"I just know we're going to win that money now!" Nami said.

Chas's face flushed from all the hugs, and she hid behind everyone, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Oh dear," Robin chuckled, placing a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing much further.

"Way to go Teaspoon and Chopper!" Luffy cheered, making everyone in the room clap and cheer again (which just infuriated Hangman Lang and his crew even more).

Chas sat down in her chair, finally getting a breather from all the hugs and turns her stomach decided to do. She was soon surprised by something cold resting against the top of her head. She looked up and was greeted with a glass of water, _actual _water this time. She looked to Zoro, the person handing it to her, and smiled.

"Nice work," Zoro said, taking his hand away when Chas had ahold of the glass.

"Thanks, Mochi," Chas said. She was going to say more, but she was rudely interrupted when Luffy, Usopp, Brook, and Chopper popped into the picture, all snickering.

"He like her!" all four chimed together before they got yelled at by Zoro who completely denied the truth. Chas couldn't help but start laughing.

After a while, the results of that days round were given (since the Straw Hats were the final act) and the Straw Hats couldn't help but celebrate when they heard that had beaten Hangman Lang and his crew that day. To make it better, they were back in the running for first, but only by one point. Still, the group of nakama prepared for the worst, knowing all hell was going to break loose the next day.


	34. Chapter 34

"I don't think it's such a good idea, Chas," Nami said walking after Chas as she walked quickly across deck.

"Oh come on!" Chas said, stopping and turning back to look at Nami and the others. "I'll just be a few minutes." Chas smiled. "I'll be in an' out before Hangman Lang an' his runners know I was even there."

Chas had come up with the idea of sneaking into Hangman Lang's ship to see if he was really going after the journal or is he was just being a complete dick on the whole competition matter. Of course, Luffy thought it was a great idea, and so did Zoro, Robin, Franky, and Brook. Sadly the others were more reluctant to agree with the idea.

"I don't think you should go with your foot still hurt," Doctor Chopper said, looking rather angry with Chas.

Chas looked down to the bandaged limb and soon looked back up with a smile. "It doesn't hurt at all, though!" To test that, knowing she was lying, Chopper flicked Chas's foot only to have her wince and say in a stressed voice, "See? Doesn't hurt..."

"Liar," everyone said.

"Why not just have someone go with her if you're that concerned?" Robin suggested.

"That's a good idea," Franky said, leaning back in his chair. "Why not make Zoro go with her?"

"Zoro-san left already," Brook said. "He said something about wanting to clear his head, so he headed off to go fishing."

"And you let him go alone?" Usopp and Chopper shouted, realizing how bad letting Zoro go alone was. Especially when the swordsman was so bad with directions already.

Brook went silent before realizing his mistake. "Oh…I didn't really think about that…"

"What about Sanji and Luffy?" Nami questioned, looking to the two boys.

"Sure!" Luffy chimed with a large grin. "Sounds like fun!"

"I'll make sure to keep Chas-san safe!" Sanji said, putting a hand to his chest as if saying he had a new goal in life.

"Ya don't need to go that far…" Chas mumbled with a small sigh.

* * *

Chas closed the door behind her, having gotten to the captain's quarters before she was caught. Whatever information she was looking for must be there, or she hoped it would anyway.

"All right," Chas said, beginning to search the bookshelves, "got to find somethin' helpful here before Luffy gets caught…" At the moment Luffy and Sanji were posing as part of the crew and trying to get information that way, luckily they hadn't been caught…_yet._

Chas looked through book after book on the book shelf, but found nothing. After that she looked under the bed, in the closet, and searched through anything else she saw. The last place she decided to search was the desk and trunk. Nothing of use was in the desk, maybe a few letters that were getting written to other pirates, noting information on the journal, but nothing of great value.

When Chas switched her attention to the trunk, she noticed something strange engraved on the side of the lock holding it shut. She looked at it and noticed it looked oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before. When Chas ran her armored hand over the lock, she was startled when it suddenly opened. But before Chas could see what was inside the trunk…

"Find something interesting, Little Red?" Chas quickly stood to her feet and looked to the door. Vera was leaning against the wall, smirking devilishly as she eyed Chas. "Did you find what you wanted?"

"I guess ya can say that," Chas said, stepping away when Vera began walking towards her, "so ya were after the journal."

"Of course," Vera said, shrugging, "why else would we be participating in a stupid competition?" Vera quickly grabbed Chas by the throat, lifting her off the ground a bit. "So, why not hand over the journal and I won't kill you and your two friends, how's that?"

"Sounds like a good deal," Chas said, trying to get Vera's hand off her throat, "too bad I don't have it. Maybe ya could try again next week." Chas soon kicked Vera away from her, making Vera immediately let go of her throat, causing her to hit the ground with a loud thud. Sadly, this hurt Chas's foot more than before. As Chas slowly stood to her feet, but she was knocked back through the wall when she was suddenly pushed by water crashing into her.

"Hand over the journal, Little Red!" Vera shouted, stepping over the broken wood towards Chas.

"Yer a Devil Fruit user?" Chas questioned, weakly standing to her feet.

"Of course," Vera said, shrugging with a smile, "and I know you're one too. Only problem is"-Vera clasped a hand over Chas's mouth and made it form into water, suffocating the redhead-"I'm your weakness." Vera laughed at seeing Chas struggle and trying to get air. "Of course, being made of water isn't all that it's cracked up to be, but the bright side to being made of water is"-Vera released Chas, smashing her into the ground-"is that when you're up against another Devil Fruit user, they won't be able to use their abilities against you."

"And that's where yer wrong," Chas said, standing to her feet. She formed a fist with her left hand and threw it at Vera, making contact with the beauty's cheek. "Ya might be made of water, an' ya might be able to keep me from usin' my Kaki Kaki no Mi, but"-as Vera was trying to recover, Chas spun and kicked Vera in the shoulder, making her fall to the ground-"I'm still goin' to beat yer ass one way or another."

* * *

_Back on the Thousand Sunny:_

"Robin," Nami said, looking over the girl's shoulder, "you're still looking over the journal?"

Robin silently nodded her head as she turned another page in the journal and began reading again. Pretty soon, she stopped reading after seeing the familiar name: Matej Torok.


	35. Chapter 35

The swordsman released another tired sigh. It was around noon now and he still hadn't gotten any bites on the fishing line, let alone be able to solve the problem he'd be pondering over for the past three hours.

No, he wasn't slow in figuring out why he felt so uncomfortable lately. He knew exactly the reason why his heart raced when she was near; why his stomach turned when seeing her smile; and he knew the reason he got jealous over other men fondling over her.

He liked her, simple as that. But he refused to admit that was the case. He didn't want to like her in that way. She was a pain; always getting into trouble; always found some way to get in a fight (not that was a bad thing); and always ended up heading blindly into a situation. Yet, for some reason, he still found the unfeminine, brash, and alcoholic young woman rather attractive.

_There must be something really wrong… _Zoro thought, scratching her head with another sigh.

"Oi, boy!"

Zoro looked back over his shoulder, seeing an old man standing there and waving his walking stick at him.

"Do you have any idea how yer holdin' that thin'?!" the old man shouted at Zoro.

Zoro looked to how he was holding the fishing pole, seeing nothing wrong with it, and looked back to the old man. "Something wrong with how I'm-"

"Everything's wrong with how yer holdin it!" the old man scolded him again, bonking Zoro on the head with his stick. "Yer posture is wrong, yer grip on the pole is wrong, an' it's the reason you've been sittin' here for three hours an' not caught anythin'!"

Zoro was irritated at the old man, but heard him out anyway.

The old man sat down next to Zoro, snatching the pool from him and taking hold of it. "Ya gotta hold it like ya would a woman: Kind, gentle, yet firm!" Zoro grumbled to himself, feeling that uncomfortable feeling coming back to him when an image of Chas popped into his head. "Ya don't hold yer woman properly an' don't treat her right, she'll run off on ya! Understand?"

"Yes," Zoro said, nodding.

"Good!" the old man said, handing the fishing pole back to Zoro. Zoro took ahold of it, but was soon getting yelled at again. "Yer still holdin' it wrong!" The old man grumbled to himself, swearing a bit here and there, but soon looked back to Zoro. "Ya have a girl, Boy?"

Zoro thought for a moment, grumbling when Chas popped to mind once again. She wasn't his, nor did he really _like _her. But he thought of her.

"Or maybe ya like a lass but she isn't yer's?"

Zoro grumbled again, the redhead's image not fading from memory, and said, "No…no one comes to-"

"LIAR!" the old man shouted, bonking Zoro on the head before he could finish. "I saw how ya were holdin' the pole just now! Ya thought of a lassie an' was tryin' to forget about her!" The old man crossed his arms, facing Zoro. "So, what? She broke yer heart? Left ya because ya went out to sea? Became a pirate? That why ya out here, in the middle of nowhere, fishin'? What was it?!"

Zoro sighed and told the old man what was going on. He soon regretted doing that when he was hit on the head with the wooden walking stick again.

"Quit tryin' ta make excuses!" the old man said, crossing his arms. "Yer just tryin' ta tell yerself somethin' far from the truth!" The old man continued to hit Zoro on the head as he spoke. "If ya like the girl, get her already! There's no hidin' those feelin's!"

Before Zoro could give a counter argument…

"Zoro-san!" Brook shouted, waving his hands franticly as he ran across the pier.

"What is it?" Zoro questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Brook held up a finger, gasping for air even though he didn't have lungs to use. Once he was all right, he began talking again. "I was told to come get you and bring you back!"

"Why?" Zoro once again asked.

Brook began crying. "It's Chas-san!"

After that, Zoro immediately got up, leaving the old man with the fishing rod, and ran off towards the ship with Brook leading.

"Don't forget what I told ya!" the old man shouted, shaking his fist in the air, but Zoro was long gone. The old man simply shook his head and went back to fishing, snorting, "Damn kids…"

* * *

Zoro and Brook quickly opened the door to the sick bay, only to find the redhead sitting on the bed, yelling about how much the antiseptic hurt her more. She had a large gash on her head, a few small cuts on her arms, and her hurt foot swollen; other than that she seemed fine.

Sadly, Chas wasn't the only one injured. Sanji and Luffy were also injured, from head to foot, in cuts and bruises. They were barely noticeable.

Chas explained to Zoro what had happened. She had gotten caught by Vera and after a while of getting her butt kicked, Chas gained the upper hand. Before Chas could deal the final blow, Lang had stepped in.

Lang then made a deal with Luffy, saying that there would be no harsh feeling when the competition was over. But if the Straw Hats lost, then they would have to give up "the book they hold hostage, along with the treasure they had gotten ahold of".

Luffy, of course, agreed without any questions. He had high expectations for his team and knew that they would beat Lang that night in the Final Round. Now there was only waiting.


	36. Chapter 36

**I recommend listening to the song (Akuma No Mi) while reading the lyrics, makes more since. I also changed some of the lyrics to fit better. And:**

**[]: means that it's spoken in the background of the song. Or I just made it that way.**

* * *

Night had fallen on the final day of the competition, and both groups were more than happy to find out who was going to win the Eternal Log Pose.

"Chas, you should probably rest," Chopper said, following the girl who was constantly walking around in circles backstage in her new outfit. She was wearing a pair of dark red harem pants with a matching tube top with drooping sleeves and gold fringe. "You shouldn't go up with that head injury!"

"I'll be fine, Doc," Chas said, waving a hand, "right, Nami?"

"Right!" Nami chimed, fixing up Luffy's harem pants so they weren't getting dragged on the ground. He was wearing the same thing as the other boys: tan harem pants, beads around his neck, and a hat (or turban) on his head.

"Plus," Chas said, pulling back the curtain a bit and pointing to Vera across the room, "I think she's in worse state then me." It's true, Vera was in worse shape than Chas was and she was able to perform earlier. She was covered in bruises, making her face not so pretty anymore, and had cuts all across her arms.

"All right, Luffy," Nami said, dusting her hands off and looking at her work, "you're all done!"

"Awesome!" Luffy chimed, jumping in the air.

"All right, everyone ready?" Nami looked to everyone else. Chas gave the thumbs up, while the boys nodded. "All right, let's win that money!"

"You mean the Log Pose," Usopp sighed, but Nami completely ignored him.

"Remember we have more on the line then just the Log Pose and money," Robin said, serious.

"Right," everyone said, nodding.

"Let's go kick some Lang ass!" Franky cheered, making everyone cheer with him.

Thus, the performance began.

The Straw Hats stood on stage: Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, Chas, and Zoro at the end. As soon as the music started, they began singing and dancing like they had rehearsed.

_Usopp: Gomu Gomu BRAVO!  
__Sanji: Bara Bara FESTIVAL!  
__Zoro: Sube Sube SPUR!  
__Chas: Moku Moku SMOKER!  
__Luffy: Gomu Gomu BOMBER!_

It was lively with the song, and outfits that Nami and Robin made seemed to be perfect for it. Everyone in the room loved it, and it seemed to fit their crew a lot better than originally expected.

_Luffy: Treasure of the seas-mystery of pirates (Umi no hihou Kaizoku no shinpi)  
__You can't stop one you eat it! (Ichido tabetara tomerarenai)_

_All: No, it doesn't end! (Iya, owaranai)  
__[Usopp: It won't end! (owaranaizo-!)]  
__The beginning of a miracle… (MIRACLE no makuake…)  
__A-U!  
__Akuma no mi!_

_Usopp: Gomu Gomu BRAVO!  
__Sanji: Bara Bara FESTIVAL!  
__Zoro: Sube Sube SPUR!  
__Chas: Moku Moku SMOKER!  
__Luffy: Gomu Gomu BOMBER!_

_Luffy: Is it fate? Or is it destiny? (Sore wa shukumei arui wa unmei)  
__Everyone is too afraid to eve tough it (Dare mo osorete te mo tsukenai)  
__But, another person_

Usopp grabbed Chas by the shoulders, shaking her. _[By chance, you ate it?! (moshikashite kutchattano?!)] _Chas immediately slapped Usopp afterwards, making everyone laugh, and the song continued through.

_All: A sacrifice to the devils… (Akuma no ikenie…)  
__A-U!  
__Akuma no mi!_

_Sanji: How many… (Ittai ikutsu)_

Sanji turned his head to look at Zoro.

_Zoro: …actually exist? (sonzai surunoka?)_

Zoro turned his head to Sanji, raising an eyebrow as if really asking the question.

_Chas: No way to know (Shiru sube mo naku)_

Chas bumped her hip against Sanji.

_No way to find out! (Sagasu sube mo nai)._

Chas bumped her hip against Zoro next.

Soon, Luffy and Chas took hold of the mic together, linking arms.

_Both: Another huge mystery! (Mata, makafushigi!)_

_[Usopp: It's a mystery! (fushigi daze!)]_

_All: That is the legendary… (Sorega densetsu no…)  
__A-U!  
__Akuma no mi!_

_Usopp: Gomu Gomu BRAVO!  
__Sanji: Bara Bara FESTIVAL!  
__Zoro: Sube Sube SPUR!  
__Chas: Moku Moku SMOKER!  
__Luffy: Gomu Gomu BOMBER!_

_Luffy: One second to watch out, your while life if you eat it (Chuui ichibyou, kuwaseba isshou)  
__Those that wish it (Negawakuba)_

_Chas: and those that don't too (negawazaru mono mo)_

_Luffy: The abilities of devils (Akuma no nouryoku)_

Usopp once again grabbed Chas by the shoulders, shaking her. _[You swallowed it whole?! (arama marunomi?!)] _Chas then slapped Usopp once again.

_All: That is the legendary… (Sorega densutsu no…)  
__A-U!  
__Akuma no mi!_

_That is the legendary… (Sorega densetsu no...)  
__A-U! A-U!  
__A, U, A, U, A-U, A-U, A-U, A-U!  
__A-U!  
__Akuma no mi!_

When the song ended, the Straw Hats all hugged each other, cheerful for their accomplishment. Of course, they weren't sure they won, but from the sound of the crowd and the looks on Hangman Lang's and his crew, the Straw Hats succeeded in something.

After some time to settle, the results of the competition had come and the Straw Hats were shocked when they learned that they had lost by three points. Hangman Lang was smiling when he heard this, but that smile faded when the judge was tapped on the shoulder and given another piece of paper.

"Oh…" the judge said, after reading the paper. "It seems there's been a change." The judge squinted at the paper. "Hangman Lang's group has been disqualified for cheating."

"WHAT?!" Vera and Lang shouted.

Chas and Nami clinked glasses, laughing with each other.

"As of now, the Straw Hat crew is the winner of the contest!" The judge cheered, ignoring Vera and her constant questions as to why they had been disqualified. Soon, Vera and everyone else with her were dragged out by the owner and his friends.

"You'll pay for this, Little Red!" Vera screamed. "You and your little friends! I'll be back!"

"I wish ya the best of luck!" Chas cheered, raising her glass as Vera was thrown out of the bar with Wylie and the others.

"Well," Lang said, walking past the table where the Straw Hats sat, "congratulations, Straw Hat Luffy." Lang held out his hand to the young Captain, who shook it with a smile.

"And, Miss Shotgun Chasaji," Lang said, looking to Chas. Chas raised an eyebrow. "I _will _be back for that journal." Lang then walked out of the bar with dignity.

"I wonder what that was about…" Chas mumbled.

"Wait," Usopp said, waving his hands, "how did they get disqualified in the first place?!"

"Well, that'd be my doin', Kid!" The Straw Hats turned around to see a short old man with a walking stick coming up to them.

"You're the old geezer that was on the pier," Zoro said, before he was hit on the head with the stick.

"Respect yer elders!" the old man shouted at him.

"So," Chas cut in, holding back her laughter, "yer the one that spilled the beans about them?"

The old man nodded and looked at Chas. "That's right! The owner is a good friend of mine, I told him what was goin' on and he had them disqualified right away!" The old man laughed. "Actually, I've been here the past few nights." The old man nodded towards Zoro. "That's how I recognized ya on the pier, Kid!"

"Ya talked to this man before, Mochi?" Chas questioned, looking to Zoro.

"More or less," Zoro answered as he remembered what the old man told him earlier.

The old man squinted at Chas, humming to himself as he stared at her. Chas looked at the old man, backing up a little when he got awfully close to her. The old man then looked to Zoro, then back to Chas, and then back to Zoro. The old man then smiled.

"Ya must be the one," the old man laughed.

"The one?" Chas questioned. "What's that-?"

"Forget about it," Zoro cut in, crossing his arms over his bare chest, "he spouts nonsense!" Zoro was then hit in the head again.

"I don't spout nonsense!" the old man shouted, continuing to hit Zoro on the head with his stick. "If I spouted nonsense then what happened today would have never happened!"

"OI, BILL!" the owner of the bar shouted, walking up to the table. "Stop hitting the boy with yer cane and get back home! Mary just called and says she needs ya."

The old man, named Bill, grumbled to himself about his wife being able to do things on her own and not needing him, but he left soon after, wishing the Straw Hats well.

"All right, Straw Hats," the owner said, setting a bag on the table along with the Log Pose, "here's the reward."

"MONEY!" Nami shouted, opening the bag and looking at all the shining Beri.

"LOG POSE!" Chas, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper shouted.

"One thing before ya get too over whelmed," the owner said, drawing the attention of everyone at the table. "We're going to need one more song."

"One more?" everyone questioned. The owner nodded.

"But we don't' have anything else!" Usopp panicked with Chopper.

"I might have something," Brook said, chuckling loudly. He then pulled out a music sheet and handed it to Luffy and the others. They all looked at it and smiled.

Hence, the second performance began when all six Straw Hats that had been performing stood on stage with smiles. The singing and bopping began.

_All: Gathering up all of our dreams (Arittake no yume wa kaki atsume)  
__Going to search for our desires (Sagashi-mono wo sagashi ni yuku no sa)  
__ONE PIECE_

_Luffy: Compasses only cause delays (Rashinban nante jyuutai no moto)  
__Filled with excitement, I take the helm (Netsu ni ukasare kagi wo toru no sa)_

_Chas: If we can prove the dusty old treasure map (Hokori kabutteta takara no chizu mo)  
__Then it's not a legend anymore! (Tashikameta no nara densetsu janai)_

_Chopper: It's all right if our personal problems (Kojin teki na arashi wa dare ka no)  
__Get on someone else's nerves (BIORYTHM nokkatte)  
__Because we think about them too much (Omoi sugoseba ii)_

_All: Gathering up all of our dreams (Arittake no yume wa kaki atsume)  
__And going to search for our desires (Sagashi mono wo sagashi no yuku no sa)  
__A coin in the pocket, and (poketto no coin, soreto)  
__You wanna be my friend?  
__We are!  
__We are on the cruise!  
__WE ARE!_

_Zoro: Even though I believe everything I'm told (Zembu mani ukete shinji chattemo)  
__My shoulders are shoved, I take a one-step lead (Kata wo osarete iippo ri-do sa)_

_Sanji: If we ever meet again, I'll tell you all about (Kondo aetanara hanasu tsumorisa)  
__What I've been doing and where I'm headed next (Sore kara no koto to kore no koto)_

_Usopp: So being in a pinch is always (Tsumari itsumo pinchi wa dareka ni)  
__A good chance to appeal to someone (api-i-ru dekiru ii chansu)  
__With excess self-consciousness! (Ji ishiki kajyoo ni!)_

_All: Full speed through the stingy night! (Shimittareta yoru wo buttobase)  
__I'm not interested in treasure anyway (Takara bako no kyoumi wa nai kedo)_

_Luffy: A romance of the pocket, and (poketto ni roman, soreto)  
__You wanna be my friend?_

_All: We are!  
__We are on the cruise!  
__WE ARE!_

_All: Gathering up all of our dreams (Arittake no yume wa kaki atsume)  
__And going to search for our desires (Sagashi mono wo sagashi no yuku no sa)  
__A coin in the pocket, and (poketto no coin, soreto)  
__You wanna be my friend?  
__We are!  
__We are on the cruise!  
__WE ARE!_

_All: WE ARE!_

_Luffy: WE ARE!_

The night ended with smiles and laughter from everyone in the bar, especially the Straw Hats who were happy to be moving on.


	37. Chapter 37

Smoker sat in his chair, starring at the calendar. September. It was already September. September 26th to be precise. It was _her _birthday. And just like every year, for 5 years, he sat there looking at the box of letters he had gotten fifteen or sixteen years ago. The box he _should _have gotten rid of.

Smoker sighed and sat forward, looking through the box. Letters upon letters were inside, and all for his young niece. He was supposed to give a letter to her every year, or so he was told, up until Chas's thirtieth birthday. Sadly, Chas left for sea before he could even hand over the box. Meaning he was stuck with it until he either caught her or put away his differences for her being a pirate (which is asking too much of Smoker).

"Smoker-san!" Tashigi shouted, running into the room. "We've caught onto the Strawhat's trail!"

"And?" Smoker said, flipping through the letters to find the number '21' in feminine handwriting.

"He's heading for Reika Shima," Tashigi said. "It's uncertain what they're going there for, but I'm certain it has something to do with the journal Shotgun Chasaji had in her possession."

Smoker found the letter and pulled it out of the box, beginning to open it with the letter opener on the desk.

"We're on course for Reika Shima now," Tashigi said. "But with the current wind conditions, we won't get there until the Straw Hats have landed."

"Either way," Smoker said, "they'll have to stay there for a few days to update the Log Pose." Smoker leaned back in his chair, looking over the letter in his hands. "We'll find them."

"Right," Tashigi said, nodding. "Then I'll be leaving now." Tashigi was about to leave when she noticed that calendar behind the Vice-Admiral. The day's date was highlighted in red and read 'Bouzu's birthday' in the tiny box. "Today is her birthday?"

Smoker looked up to Tashigi, then to the calendar, then page to the page in his hands. "Yeah…"

Tashigi pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and soon left out the door, leaving Smoker to read the letter by himself.

* * *

_On the Thousand Sunny, miles away:_

Chas continued to walk around the Thousand Sunny, scratching her head in confusion. She had tried talking to everyone, but they simply brushed her off saying they were busy. Of course, even with them saying they were busy, she felt that they had been avoiding her for most of the day.

_Maybe I did something? _Chas thought, walking towards her room. When she got there, she looked through her bag and took out the photo album she never failed to keep with her. She opened it up and began looking through it. Her parents were in a few of the pictures, but most of them were of her and Smoker, who had raised her since she was six or so.

Chas chuckled at the picture she saw after turning the page. It was of her and Smoker with their backs turned to each other, frowning. She remember they had gotten into a fight and were angry at each other, but the marines had decided to take a picture. Soon after her and Smoker made up and he took her out for ice cream.

Chas soon frowned, remembering that a short time after the picture was taken she had left to become a pirate, which infuriated Smoker more than she expected.

Chas turned the page again, seeing a picture of her own crew. They were all smiling and holding up bottles while Knad had her in a head lock and she had Marco in one too.

Chas sighed, running her fingers over the picture. "We were so close guys…" Chas released another sigh and shut the book when there was knocking at the door. "Yeah?"

The door opened and Zoro peeked in with a straight expression. "Luffy said he needs to see you."

"Then why didn't he come get me himself?" Chas questioned, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. She knew he was lying. "Yer a bad liar, ya know that?"

Zoro grumbled, looking away from Chas as he mumbled to himself. "Look, I was just told to-"

"Liar," Chas said again. "Why'd ya really come here?"

Zoro crossed his arms, mumbling a few words under his breath. He then groaned and quickly grabbed ahold of Chas, pulling her out the door and towards the kitchen.

"Oi!" Chas shouted, as Zoro pulled her through the doorway. "Let go of me, Mochi!"

"SURPRISE!"

Chas stopped shouting at Zoro when she saw the other Straw Hats pop out from behind the table and counter, all throwing streamers and popping poppers. The whole place was decked out in streams, balloons, and many other party detail. The table was filled with many of Chas's favorite foods, and the counter near the kitchen was full of beautifully wrapped gifts. She was truly surprised when she saw this, and knew right away it was the reason Zoro brought her there.

"Happy birthday, Chas!" everyone chimed, even Zoro with his monotonous manner.

Chas bit her lip, holding back the tears that threatened to slip through because of how touched she was. Sadly, a few tears had streamed down her face, making everyone shocked.

"Chas?" Chopper said, running up to the girl. "What's wrong? Does your head hurt?"

Chas laughed. "No, no, sorry… I'm just surprised." Chas wiped her tears and smiled towards everyone. "How'd ya guys know it was my birthday?"

Robin smiled. "Sorry, I decided to do a bit of research."

"In other words, we search your stuff," Nami said, laughing.

Chas sighed, no she had absolutely no privacy when it came to these things. But she had gotten used to it by now.

"We've been planning this all day," Usopp said.

"So that's why everyone was…" Chas mumbled to herself.

"Sorry for ignoring you, Chas," Chopper said, frowning. "We didn't mean anything by it. We just wanted to surprise you."

"And it looks like we did our job," Zoro said, smirking confidently.

"But you didn't do anything!" the others shouted at him.

Chas couldn't help but laugh at the liveliness.


	38. Chapter 38

"I'm stuffed…" Chas, Brook, Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp said, patting their stomachs.

Robin chuckled. "You did eat everything that was on the table."

"Along with a two foot cake…" Nami mumbled, staring at the large, empty, plate that had a cake on it, but now it was cake-less.

"All right!" Luffy cheered. "Presents!"

"Open mine first, Chas!" Chopper chimed, running over with a small box in his hooves.

"Ya guys didn't have to give me anythin'," Chas said, smiling as she took the gift from Chopper.

"We could take them back," Zoro said, leaning back with an arm behind Chas's shoulders.

Chas narrowed her eyes at the smirking swordsman as she opened the gift in her hands. She then looked back to the gift when she popped off the lib, only to find a hat. "A hat?"

"Yeah!" Chopper said with a smile. "Usopp helped me make it for you."

"It matches Chopper's too," Usopp said, smiling.

Chas giggled and placed it on her head. She then picked up Chopper and hugged him. "Thanks, Doc!"

Chopper's face reddened. "Aw, that won't flatter me, Asshole!" Chopper then hugged Chas back, making everyone laugh.

"Oh, oh, mine next, Chas-san!" Sanji sang, running over with a foolish grin and another decorated box.

Chas took the box and opened it, seeing a lighter inside. "I've been needing a new lighter." Chas looked to Sanji, grinning at him. "Thanks a lot, Black Leg."

"There's no need to thank me!" Sanji said, blushing and waving his hand around.

"This one next!" Luffy said, pushing a box in front of Chas. When it was opened, it held a sketchbook.

"I found your sketch book," Robin said, smiling. "Telling by the way it was filled, you would be needing new one soon."

"Thanks, Robin," Chas said, smiling at the woman. "But how did you know I hid my sketchbook under Usopp's bed?"

"That's why my bed has been hard!" Usopp shouted.

"All right!" Nami shouted, setting down her box in front of Chas.

Chas opened the box and pulled out one of the things she didn't expect to see.

Because of his wild imagination, Zoro had to look away from the article of clothing. The other boys had to do the same thing, except those who didn't think much of it or had no idea what it was other than clothing. Sanji, on the other hand, had to exit because of a nosebleed he didn't want to show.

"Um…" Chas mumbled as she looked over the black, short, nightgown. "How'd you get my sizes?"

"I have my ways," Nami said, laughing. "Point is, you have to wear it tonight! Not those shorts and tank top you call pajamas."

"But I like my tank top and shorts!" Chas objected.

"Too bad!"

Before Chas could even say anymore, another box had been placed in front of her. This box was most likely the largest box of the group.

"Less talking, more opening!" Luffy demanded, rather seriously.

"Wait, Luffy," Usopp cut in, looking at the colorful box in front of the birthday girl, "I thought you said you wanted to last?"

"But I can't wait any longer!" Luffy said. He then looked to Chas and gave a wide grin. "This one is from me and Brook!"

Chas gave a light smile. She then opened the box with a sigh, only to find another box. Chas pulled that box out and opened it, but was sad to see yet another box.

Luffy and Brook were having the time of their lives watching Chas open box after box. At some point they had started laughing nonstop, along with most of the others sitting around (especially Zoro who was amused also).

When Chas was at the last box, she opened it up and jumped into Zoro's lap when something purple and yellow flew out of the box. It was the bird Luffy had kept, Rui has he dubbed it.

"What the hell?!" Chas and Zoro shouted, but not at each other.

Luffy and Brook high-fived each other and then looked to Chas.

"Now look in the box!" Luffy ordered.

Chas peeked into the box, not bothering to remove herself from Zoro's lap in fear of something else popping out. She then picked up a whistle, decorated rather terribly in her opinion. "A whistle?"

"Yeah!" Luffy and Brook cheered.

"Rui-san answers to it," Brook said with a small tilt of his head. "Of course I made the whistle myself so it isn't out of tone."

"And I decorated it!" Luffy chimed, raising his hand like a small child.

"We can tell…" everyone said, looking at the…_very _colorful whistle in Chas's small hands.

Zoro looked to Chas, his cheeks as unnoticeable red. "How long do you plan on sitting on me?"

Chas looked down then back to Zoro, smirking. "Uncomfortable?" Chas then turned her back to him, not even moving from her spot. It wasn't that Zoro was uncomfortable. He was _too _comfortable for his own good. He had a feeling if this lasted any longer he'd do something he'd regret.

"All right," Usopp said, placing down a small, purple, box, "my turn."

"Nothing's going to pop out, right?" Chas questioned, not even realizing Zoro had pushed her off of his lap.

"Not unless Luffy did something to it," Usopp laughed.

Chas grabbed the small box and opened it, only to find a ring inside. She lifted an eyebrow and looked to Usopp, who was smiling brightly. Chas looked back to the ring. "Look, Mr. Sniper, I-"

"It didn't give it to you in that way!" Usopp shouted, his face red. "Look, I made it out of scrap metal. I thought that you need something to tell people you were part of our crew. See?" Usopp leaned over the table and pointed to the head of the ring. On the head was the Straw Hat Jolly Roger, but instead of the usual bones, it was shotguns, like her old Jolly Roger. "I also kept your old flag a part of it, that way you can have that memory still with you." Usopp looked to Chas, grinning. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"I like the idea," Nami said, crossing her arms and smiling.

"That's pretty cool!" Luffy and Chopper chimed, looking over Chas's shoulders towards the ring.

"All right, all right!" Franky said, swatting them away like flies. "Last one!" Franky set a box down in front of Chas, smiling brightly with a hearty laugh.

"What about Zoro?" Luffy questioned, pointing to the swordsman. "I thought he said-"

"I don't have anything," Zoro cut in, taking a drink of his sake.

Luffy frowned and looked to him. "Yes you do. You-"

"Luffy," Robin said, smiling, "perhaps he plans on giving it to her later." Robin giggled, making Zoro glare at her, knowing she was playing matchmaker in her head, along with Franky and Brook who were also chuckling.

"What is this?" Chas questioned, holding up a brown liquid in a jar. She looked at it from all angels, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"It's Franky's 'Super Armor Polish'!" Franky said, placing his hands on his hips. "Now brought to you in cola flavor!"

"That's awesome!" Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Chas chimed, all staring at the jar.

"Cola flavored?" Sanji questioned, having come back from his short absence.

"Yep!" Franky said. "I made it smell like cola!"

"That sounds like something you would use," Nami said.

"He did make it," Brook said, crossing his legs.

"All right!" Luffy and Chas chimed together, linking arms and holding up glasses. "Let's get the rest of this party going!" The two laughed and sang the strangest song that could think of, which made everyone laugh at them.

Thus, the night continued to get merry as it went on.

* * *

Later that evening, Zoro had made his way to the Crow's Nest, getting ready for his watch that night. Strangely, when he got there, he found he wasn't alone. Chas was there, drawing in her sketch book as she sat near the window, wearing her usual gray tank top and black shorts, and curled up with a bottle of Sherry.

"Haven't you had enough alcohol?" Zoro questioned, trying to keep his eyes from wondering down her.

"No," Chas said, flatly. "Why are you up here?"

Zoro peeked over Chas's shoulder, looking to her drawing, and was surprised to see she had some real talent. On the page was a drawing of everyone: Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Robin, Chopper, Brook, Franky, and even himself. They were all sitting on the deck of the Sunny, having a good time. But something was missing from the page.

"You're missing someone," Zoro said, making her jump and hid the book.

"Oh yeah?" Chas snarled. "And who would that be?"

Zoro poked her wrinkled forehead. "The idiot captain that our idiot captain decided to take in like a lost puppy."

Chas slapped Zoro's hand away. "I'm not a lost puppy!" Chas then looked away from Zoro, ignoring him as he continued to pester her.

Zoro rolled his eyes and sat down across from her, staring out the window. "So, why didn't you add yourself?"

"Add myself to what, Mochi?" Chas questioned, continuing to sketch to picture in front of her.

"You know what I'm talking about," Zoro said, eying the red head from the corner of his eye. He pencil stopped noticeably, but then started sketching again.

"I don't know what I look like," Chas said. "It's kinda hard sketchin' yerself if ya don't know what ya look like."

Zoro looked at her. "You have gray hair."

Chas flinched.

"Really wrinkly skin."

Chas's eyebrow twitched.

"Dark circles under your eyes."

Chas looked up, narrowing her eyes at Zoro, who looked completely serious.

"And you're really fat."

"Shut up!" Chas shouted, throwing a pillow at him. "I do not look like that!"

Zoro laughed. "Then you know what you look like."

Chas's brows met in the middle, scowling as her face flushed red. "S-Shut up, Mochi…" Chas then went back to sketching, trying not to show how flattered she was when he said that.

Zoro stopped teasing her, turning back to the window to keep watch. But his focus kept crawling back to Chas next to him. The moonlight hit her just right, making her seem a bit more attractive then he usually thought. Of course, what was he thinking? He didn't like her, or so he kept telling himself. But it was hard keeping that the truth.

"I'm not used to all this attention," Chas mumbled, making Zoro look at her again. "The most I got from my birthdays were an ice cream, a small lesson on how to be a marine, an' a letter from my mother who died when I was five…" Chas shrugged. "It wasn't a girl's dream, but it was the best birthdays I can remember."

Zoro took a deep breath and stood to his feet, walking over to a small trunk in the corner of the room.

"Oi, Mochi," Chas said, looking over her shoulder, "what are ya-"

Zoro shuffled through the trunk, making so much noise Chas couldn't be heard, until he found what he wanted: Her birthday present. He picked it up and walked back to her, handing her the bag.

"What is this?" Chas questioned, looking at the bag but not taking it.

"It's your birthday present," Zoro said, flatly.

"But I thought-"

"Are you going to take it or not?" Zoro growled.

Chas took it and opened the bag, only to be surprised by a bottle of fine alcohol. "Shochi?"

"The old man from before gave it to me before we were leaving," Zoro said, scratching his head as he sat down again. "I was going to save it, but…" Zoro grumbled, his face flushing again. He turned to look at Chas again when he heard the cork pop off, he was then surprised by her handing the bottle to him.

"Share it with me," Chas said, flatly.

"Why?" Zoro said, raising an eyebrow.

Chas smiled. "Consider it as a 'thank ya' from me."

"For?"

Chas was silent for a moment and then soon looked seriously at him, making his heart jump. "For givin' me a birthday I can remember."

Zoro rolled his eyes, snatching the bottle from her, which just made her laugh because she knew he was embarrassed.

"Don't get so cocky," Zoro said, taking a drink.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Mochi," Chas laughed.

* * *

After a while, Chas had ended up falling asleep, leaning on Zoro's shoulder to his dismay. She had gotten completely stoned and was unable to even talk properly. Luckily, she hit the light before she could get any worse, or embarrass the both of them with her actions.

Zoro was now finishing off the bottle of Shochi, saying as he hardly felt drunk at all. Maybe a bit tipsy, but not drunk. He left Chas alone, kind of liking the feel of her sleeping against him, which just made him angry at himself for such a thing.

Zoro glanced down to Chas, noticing the sketch book still firmly gripped in her hand. He glanced to the girl's face, and when he saw she was definitely asleep, he reached for the sketch book. Once it was safely in his hands, he began silently looking through it.

The first page was a picture of Chopper, sitting at his desk in the Sick Bay and working on paperwork, which he was seen rarely doing. Zoro had to give the girl kudos for being so talented with a pencil.

The next page was a picture of Luffy hanging from the mast, stretching his arms down to try and steal a piece of meat that was getting carried away by Sanji. Zoro gave a small chuckle at this one, thinking that it was perfect for the idiotic captain and equally idiotic chef.

The third page was a bit different. It was Nami and Robin, talking at table under an umbrella. The two were smiling and laughing from the looks as they had a grand old time under the sun.

The fourth was of Usopp, working in his small shop under deck. Zoro didn't quite know what the man was doing, but he looked very solemn, almost lost in his work.

The fifth picture was of Brook, standing on the deck of the Thousand Sunny, playing his violin. The feeling he got from the picture was calm and serene, which was something different from what he usually felt when Brook played.

The sixth picture was of Franky, doing his favorite move of putting his arms together and showing the star on his arms. This didn't give Zoro a feeling, other than the usual "What the hell" thought.

The seventh picture was of Sanji. Zoro quickly skipped over it, not really caring for it.

The eighth and final picture was of him, sleeping in one of his favorite spots on deck. When he saw this picture, his chest tightened and he was extremely shocked by how well it was drawn. The only thing that he thought was off was the smile that was drawn on his face.

_I don't smile in my sleep… _Zoro pondered, his eyebrows knitting together. _Do I? _He looked down to Chas and noticed her smiling in her sleep, which just made his face heat up at his thoughts. He then mentally slapped himself out of telling himself he actually had feelings for her.

Zoro slammed shut the sketchbook, not managing to wake up the girl lying on his shoulder. He didn't care if she woke up or not, but he instead he just wanted to forget about her. So, he continued his watch that night, trying to forget about warmth encasing his shoulder.

* * *

**That….was just….too OOC…. I'm so sorry.**


	39. Chapter 39

It was late into the night a few days later after Chas's birthday and most of the Straw Hats were already asleep in their beds, accept for Chas (and Franky who was on watch that night), who continued to stay awake and watch the calm sea pass by the ship. She was thinking too much about her recent dream to go back to sleep.

"Chas?" Chas looked back over her shoulder to see Chopper, rubbing his eyes and walking towards her. "You're still awake?"

"Yeah," Chas said, patting Chopper on the head when he stood next to her. "Why are ya still up? I thought ya had gone to be a long time ago."

"I had a nightmare," Chopper answered with a yawn.

"Really? What about?"

"You leaving us," Chopper answered, rubbing his eyes again before looking up at her. "After that I couldn't get to sleep again. I tried getting Zoro or Sanji to read me a story, but they told me not bug them… But, you're not going to leave us, right?"

Chas stared at Chopper for a moment, have the brief recollection of her dream. But, Chas soon smiled and began laughing as she said, "Of course not! I'm not goin' to go anywhere, Doc." Chas soon stopped laughing and got serious. "Wait, why didn't ya just ask someone else to read ya a story?"

"Because they all tell terrible stories," Chopper answered with another yawn. "Can you read me on instead?"

Chas gave a light smile and nodded. "Sure, Doc." Chas then picked up the sleepy doctor and walked back to the men's quarters. She then sat Chopper in his bed and sat down next to it, making sure not to wake anyone else.

"All right," Chas said in a whisper as she tucked him in, "what kind of story do ya want to hear?"

Chopper shrugged. "I don't know. Just pick something."

Chas thought for a moment and smirked when she got an idea. "All right, I know a good one." Chas soon sat back in her chair, beginning to tell her story. "Once upon a time, there was a small family of…"-Chas pondered for a moment-"cotton candy." Chopper's face lit up like she knew it would. "One day, the father of the family was sent out to gather food for the local market. He told his wife and daughter that he would be back shortly and that in the mean time they were in his brother's hands."

As Chas went on, she hadn't noticed that Brook, Sanji, and Zoro had woken up and started listening to her story also.

"Months passed and the father never came home," Chas continued with a frown, "later the family learned that the father had been eaten by a human and the ship sunk at sea." Chopper's jaw dropped, making everyone laugh lightly. "The younger brother stepped in for the family and helped take care of them, but the mother soon came down with a Cotton Candy illness." Chas rested a foot on the edge of her chair and hugged her leg. "About a year passed and mother had died, leaving the daughter with her uncle."

"This isn't such a happy story, Chas," Chopper said, frowning.

Chas laughed. "It gets better." Chas looked forward, towards the door with a small smile. "Years passed and the girl left home to see the world. Her Uncle objected to it, saying it was far too dangerous for a small cotton ball like her, but she didn't listen to him." Chas frowned. "The last words she heard were, 'If you leave, then know you'll never be welcomed back'…" Chas looked to the floor. "She never returned home after that…"

"What happened to her?" Brook asked, looking over the edge of his bunch.

Chas looked up, finally noticing that the three men were awake and looking at her. Chas meet eyes with Zoro on the top bunk next to her (the bed over Sanji's) and immediately looked away from him when her heart jumped at his serious gaze.

"Um…" Chas began to think. "She sailed the seas like she wanted to… Going from place to place and seeing everything she's dreamed of."

"What about her uncle?" Sanji asked, putting his hands behind his head.

"Yeah," Chopper said, sitting up and leaning towards Chas, "did she ever make up with him?"

Chas suddenly went silent. She cleared her throat, holding back the tears that threatened to push through. "What do ya think, Doc?" Chas wasn't going to give her opinion on the matter.

"I don't think her uncle ever meant to hurt her," Chopper said, frowning. "He was just trying to keep her safe. He loves her and is probably looking for her right now to apologize!"

Chas was speechless, but she soon began laughing, bitterly. "Ya might be right about that, Doc."

Chopper smiled and after Chas patted him on the head, he snuggled into his bed and fell asleep, smiling. Chas tucked him in and then stood to her feet, about to leave.

"Chas-san," Brook spoke up, stopping Chas from leaving. She looked back over her shoulder, lifting an eyebrow. "Is this story based off of your life?"

Chas simply stuck her hands in her pockets, biting down on her lip. What was she supposed to say? "Yes this story is about me as a fluffy cotton candy ball"? It just didn't sound like her, nor was this emotional state like her.

Having nothing better to say, Chas looked up to the others and smiled. "I'll see ya all in the mornin'." Chas then walked to the door and reached to the handle. When her hand turned it, opening it an inch, she was stopped again.

"If it's any consolation," Zoro spoke up, "Chopper has a point."

"Marimo's right," Sanji said with a light smile, "hope isn't lost for the cabby marine."

"I'm sure things can get turned right again, Chas-san," Brook said, with a light, hearty, laugh.

Chas didn't turn around to look at the boys. She stood there for a moment, before exiting with no final words to them.

* * *

**Best I got until I get serious with the next few chapters. Next will be better, promise.**


	40. Chapter 40

A few days later, Chas was standing on deck, looking out onto the landscape. Chas licked her chapped lips and bit down on her lit cigarette, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket. Her eyes had never left the island that was in front of her. She just couldn't believe it. She heard legends, myths…hell, she read a story about it as a child. No matter what, Chas always believed the place was fake, nothing more than the stories. She was wrong. It was real. Reika Shima was real. An island made of ice cream.

"OI, TEASPOON!" Luffy shouted, waving from a nearby hill of vanilla. "Come join us!"

"No thanks…" Chas said, still in a lot of shock. She jumped when she was suddenly shoved forward. She turned around and saw Zoro, dressed in a dark green, furry, jacket, which was very similar to her red one.

Zoro smirked. "Why not join them? Go be the child you're meant to be."

Chas glared at the swordsman, but that's all she did. She didn't give a comeback, nor did she have one prepared for anymore insults. Her mind was going other places and she was far too tired.

Chas looked away from Zoro, rolling her shoulders as she watched Luffy throw ice cream balls at Usopp and Chopper. "Whatever, Mochi…"

Zoro lifted an eyebrow. "No comeback, huh? Something wrong?"

"Why would something be wrong?" Chas asked, not looking to him but continuing to watch Luffy and the others in the ice cream snow.

Zoro looked the girl over, noticing dark circles under her eyes. She looked very tired, and it was obvious to anyone who looked at her. "Have you been sleeping?"

Chas blinked a few times before snuggling into her jacket more. "Not really…" Chas took a deep breath of smoke and blew it out into the cold air. "I haven't been able to for the past few days…" Chas's words slowly trailed off until she was silent. Her mind kept running over her latest dreams. It was the same thing every night: her crew's death. She didn't know why it all of a sudden bothered her so much, or why she was dreaming of it lately.

"Nightmares?" Zoro questioned.

Chas's face paled.

"If it's nightmares maybe you should-"

"Just stay out of this!" Chas shouted, glaring at him viciously. Chas grabbed her cigarette, grinding in down into the ashtray. Chas then walked off, leaving Zoro a bit shocked at her bitter tone. Something was off, and it wasn't just her being sleep deprived.

Zoro looked to the ashtray and saw about four cigarettes sitting there, all down to their ends and recently lit from the heat emitting from them. That's when his deduction was proven. Something was bothering Chas, but she wasn't saying what.

* * *

Chas was walking through the snow, having left the Sunny to do a bit of thinking. Of course, her thinking about the dream didn't help any at all, it just made her head hurt more.

She snuggled into her jacket more, blocking her face from all the ice cream getting blown around in the wind. _Maybe I should get back to the ship… _Chas thought. She soon stopped and looked around, seeing nothing but snow. _Which way was that again…? _Chas sighed and continued walking in the direction she believed the ship was. Pretty soon, Chas stopped again, seeing something in the distance. She made her way closer to it and was soon stunned to see something familiar. It was…

* * *

"Where is Chas?" Nami questioned, walking into the kitchen only to see three freezing boys sitting at the table with blankets around them.

"Last I heard she was heading for town," Usopp said, sniffing. "We told her not to go alone, but she didn't listen."

"Something seemed off too," Luffy said, sneezing afterwards. "Teaspoon seemed a bit angry."

"That might have been Zoro's fault," Chopper said, pointing to the swordsman in the corner.

"For the last time, it wasn't my fault!" Zoro snapped.

Before anyone could tell him it was_ indeed_ his fault for making her snap, the door opened with a bang, making the cold air and ice cream snow rush into the room. Standing there was Chas. Her red hair and jacket was covered with ice cream snow, almost making them look white.

"Chas-san, we've been so worried!" Sanji chimed, about to hug the girl before noticing she was dragging something behind her. He looked to see it was a rather large and unconscious man in a gray jacket behind her.

Before anyone could ask questions about why she was dragging, or even where she had gotten him, Chas had spoken up, her voice a bit shaky from being so cold.

"Usopp"-Usopp jumped and looked to Chas, seeing her frowning-"can I borrow yer tools?"

Usopp tilted his head. "Sure, but why-"

"Just get them as quickly as ya can," Chas said, ignoring whatever Usopp was going to say. Usopp simply ran off to get his tools, not really wanting to get on Chas's bad side like Zoro did earlier.

"What's going on, Teaspoon?" Luffy asked, looking to the man Chas dragged in and was now sitting up. "And who is this guy?"

Chas looked back over her shoulder, showing a small smile as she said, "He's Atif…one of my crew members." Everyone's eyes widened.


	41. Chapter 41

"He's a robot?!" Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp shouted, eyes shining with excitement.

Chas chuckled as she grabbed a screw driver from Usopp's tool box. The group had moved down to Usopp's workshop to repair Atif, who had been damaged from the cold and snow. This mean that Chas had to open up the robot and find out what the problems were, only to see it was everything.

"Yeah," Chas said, reaching inside the open compartment on Atif's back, "quite impressive, right?"

"So, he's like Franky?" Luffy asked, cheerfully as he pointed to the cyborg.

"Idiot!" Franky said. "Cyborgs and Robots are _way _different!"

"It's true," Chas said, wiping the sweat from her brow and wiping her dirty hands on the jumpsuit (which she tide the top half around her waist so she didn't get _too _hot inside) she changed into. "Franky would survive much better out in the cold then Atif."

"Why?" Chopper asked.

"Body heat," Franky said, smiling.

Chas pulled out a broken gear, throwing it behind her head, which made the gear almost hit Zoro. Of course he minded this, but Chas could have cared less about hitting him in the face with it. Truthfully, she believed he deserved it.

"Atif doesn't have a motor or anything that will generate heat," Chas said, taking a deep breath. "So, the wires and pipes inside him will tend to freeze a lot easier." Chas looked back to the open compartment, biting her cheek as she mumbled, "I should probably fix that while I'm at it… Question is: How?"

"If Atif-san knew there was a chance of freezing out here," Brook pondered, putting a finger to his chin, "why did he come here in the first place?"

"That's a good question," Sanji said, crossing his arms.

"Ow!" Chas said, pulling out her hand quickly.

"You all right, Chas?" Nami asked.

Chas waved her hand, trying to get rid of the pain from getting electrocuted. "Yeah, I'm fine…just got shocked."

"Maybe you should be more careful," Zoro said, crossing his arms. Chas didn't even acknowledge what he said and just continued working. This made Zoro even more ticked off at her, knowing she was just being a total jerk to him.

Chas reached up into Atif's chest, which meant her leaning in. The boys behind her all tilted their heads, a few slightly blushing, staring at her butt as she tried reaching whatever it was she was trying to get.

"Ah-ha!" Chas shouted, pulling out a square box from Atif's chest. The boys all stood straight, pretending that they weren't staring at anything, which in turn received many slaps from Nami who saw everything.

"What is that?" Luffy asked, looking closely at the box as he rubbed his head of the giant bump on his head.

Chas took a pair of tweezers and began tinkering with the box. She put back a few loose wires that were on the sides, which soon made it light up a glowing blue. "I guess ya can say it's his heart…"

"Not much of a heart," Luffy said, tilting his head.

"Well, yer heart ain't that big either," Chas said, looking to Luffy.

"Yes it is!" Luffy said, putting his hands on his hip confidently. "My heart is as big as my chest!"

"Actually," Chopper said, speaking up, "atomically speaking your heart is only the size of your fist, Luffy."

"So," Usopp said, making a fist with his hand, "my heart is this big?" Chopper nodded with a smile.

Luffy made a fist and stared at it for a bit. He then used Gear Third to make his fist slightly larger. He then smiled confidently and showed everyone. "See? It's as big as my chest!"

"I think that's cheating Luffy-san," Brook said, sighing with everyone else.

"Wait a minute," Nami said, "if Atif's heart is only a small box…then, what does his brain look like?"

Chas reached into Atif, beginning to put together wires and such to link to the heart as she answered Nami. "It's a small motor, probably about the size of anyone's brain." Chas grunted when she tugged on a wire to loosen its hold on another. "But, along with the motor is a small chip that holds all his memories."

"Wouldn't the chip eventually fill though?" Franky asked.

Chas chuckled. "We hadn't gotten to that problem. I'm not even sure how we haven't ran into it. Ya see"-Chas grunted again, putting the heart back in its place-"my crew and I found Atif, so we don't really know much about his mechanics."

"Can he fight?" Zoro questioned.

"Of course," Chas answered, seriously. "Saved my life countless times." Chas stood straight, looking at Atif's back as she took a deep breath, wiping her hands on the jumpsuit. "All right, everything's fix… I think…"

"You think?!" everyone shouted.

"Haven't you fixed him before?" Usopp asked, peeking over Atif's shoulder.

"I have, quite a few times…" Chas said, scratching her head. "But that was a long time ago…three, or four, years almost, since he broke this badly." Chas crossed her arms and began thinking. "Maybe it's the motor I was talkin' about…"

"Then check," Zoro said, impatiently.

"I would, but I'm not tall enough…" Chas said. "And it's not a good idea to have Franky, Brook, or Usopp do it because they have no idea what they're doing. There's a possibility they could break him…"

"It's true," Usopp, Brook, and Franky said, shrugging.

"And a ladder won't help…it's far too short…" Chas mumbled, tapping her chin. She looked up and soon laid eyes on Zoro. She soon got an idea, making her smirk.

* * *

"I don't see why _I _have to do this!" Zoro said, angrily.

"Just stay still!" Chas said, kicking Zoro's chest with her shoe. At the moment she was sitting on Zoro's shoulder, checking the motor in Atif's head. Sadly, it was difficult balancing for both of them, especially when Zoro wasn't very comfortable with having to put his hands on Chas's thighs to hold her. Zoro just couldn't stand the way his heart was racing.

"Got it!" Chas said, pulling out a large chunk of ice from the motor. Soon, she was startled when the motor started running, making a loud grinding noise that slowly disappeared as it continued to run. This in turn made Chas and Zoro topple over, making Chas fall on Zoro, which just made his face redder then it already was and making Chas's face red also with how close they were to each other.

"Hey, he's online!" Usopp cheered with a smile.

Chas quickly stood to her feet, not bothering to help Zoro up, and quickly ran over to Atif.

Atif moved his head around, looking at the very curious scenery around him. "Where am I?" His voice was monotonous, not giving any emotion to _any _of his words.

"You're on the Thousand Sunny!" Luffy chimed with a smile.

"Thousand Sunny?" Atif questioned, looking to the small people in front of him, that's when he saw Chas, smiling at him. "Captain Chasaji?"

Chas gave a large grin, snickering. "Hey, Atif! How ya feelin'?"

"I feel acceptable," Atif said. "May I ask what is going on?" As soon as Atif asked that, his arm fell off, shocking everyone when it hit the ground with a loud bang.

"That's not fine…" Usopp mumbled.

"Maybe I missed somethin'…" Chas mumbled. She looked to Atif with her usual smile. "Don't worry, Atif, we'll fix ya up and give ya an explanation about what is going on."

"I would be most grateful for that, Captain," Atif said.

* * *

**If yer wondering: Atif is 8'1", which means he's a foot shorter than Brook, but much taller then everyone else (Also bigger around-like strength wise...he's not fat)**


	42. Chapter 42

"Can you poop?" Those were the first three words that left Luffy's mouth after a small explanation on who everyone was, what Chas was doing with them, and how they found Atif in the snow. Of course, no one was actually surprised when Luffy asked this, but they sure were angry that this question had to come up whenever Luffy meant a new being.

"I'm afraid I don't quite comprehend what you are enquiring, Strawhat Luffy," Atif said, monotonously. "Might you be able to put it simpler?"

Luffy raised an eyebrow. "It's a simple yes or no question, what's so hard about it?"

"Lay off the question, Luffy!" Nami growled angrily.

Luffy pouted and looked to Nami. "But I want to know!"

"Do ya remember what happened before ya shut down, Atif?" Chas interrupted before Luffy could ask again. She then bit down on the screw driver she was using before reaching back into Atif's back to hook up the heater Franky and Usopp made to help him.

"I'm afraid I do not," Atif answered. "I do, however, evoke seeing the vivacious color of pink."

"Cotton candy?!" Chopper chimed, eyes shining and drool falling from his mouth.

"There's no cotton candy here, Chopper," Zoro said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "This whole island is filled with ice cream."

"How do you know?" Chopper said, pouting. "We've only explored a small portion of this island!" Chopper eyes began shining again. "It's possible that the other half is all cotton candy!" Chopper then squealed at his imagination.

"There's a lot of pink ice cream around," Usopp suggested, crossing his legs and arms. "Maybe you saw that."

"I don't think that is viable," Atif said, looking to Usopp. "I unambiguously recall shutting down in a massif of vanilla ice cream, as you so put it."

Everyone stood there silently, just trying to understand the large words Atif was using to speak with. A few, however, understood him, but those very few with a very low vocabulary didn't understand.

"There anythin' else?" Chas questioned, dusting off her hands.

"I perceived conversation," Atif said. "However I could not make out any aspects to the individuals speaking."

"So we're not alone on this island?" Sanji questioned.

"Apparently not," Nami said, crossing her arms now. "But who else would be here? There's no towns or anything."

"Maybe Smoker-san caught up to us," Brook suggested.

"It's possible," Robin said. "He had been on our trail for quite some time now."

"Damn…" Zoro mumbled. "And here I thought we lost the geezer."

"On another note," Nami interrupted, looking to Atif. "Why were _you _on this island, Atif?"

"I derived here in exploration of Captain Chasaji," Atif answered, honestly. "I identified that if she and the others were still navigating the Grand Line than they would be following the journal. Thus, I went to the whereabouts revealed to me in the journal."

"Wait," Usopp cut in, "you don't have the journal, so how did you know all that?"

"Memory," Atif answered.

"You remembered that whole journal?" Franky questioned. "Super!"

"I've looked over that journal a bunch of times and don't recall anything about this island being said in it," Robin said.

"Neither do I," Nami said.

Atif looked to the two girls. "It was amid the pages." The girls were quite confused. "When Captain Chasaji first went to Red Haired Shanks, he said to check the pages over light."

"Wait a minute!" Chas shouted, slamming down the wrench from her hands and walking around to stand in front of Atif. She then placed her hands on her hips. "That idiot said nothing like that! He gave us some damn riddle."

"On the contrary," Atif said, turning his head to look at Chas, this made Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy squeal about how robotic his movements were, "you had failed to see the obvious, Captain."

Chas opened her mouth, ready to start shouting again, but she soon shut her mouth, knowing Atif was right. She usually failed to see the obvious, and always failed to solve the easiest of riddles. But, then again, Atif's brain was a lot different from her's.

"Wow…" Zoro said, chuckling with a smirk. "The woman's finally speechless." Chas ignored him once again and went back to working on Atif's machinery. This made everyone quietly chuckle at her attitude and Zoro's sour expression.

"I have a question," Chopper said, walking up to the large robot. "How long have you been on Chas's crew?"

"I've remained with Captain Chasaji for three ages, ever since she found me," Atif answered the reindeer.

"Found you?" Nami questioned, tilting her head slightly.

Atif looked around and then looked over his shoulder to Chas, who wasn't going to elaborate on how they met. So, he decided to tell his story. Atif looked to the others. "I was a mound of emerita steel ready to get melted down to produce something innovative, and she found me. Captain Chasaji, alongside with Marco, mended me. They restored my fragmented systems, gave me a new core and effective brain." Atif looked to his hand. "When I was online again, I was a new person." Atif looked back to everyone, seeing a few in tears (which was Usopp, Chopper, and Brook). "After that, I chose to sojourn with the crew until we were divided. She never opposed me following her."

"Did you really do that, Teaspoon?" Luffy asked, peeking around Atif to look at Chas.

Chas stopped fiddling with the machinery and wrench for a moment, sitting still, before she started fixing it again. "Yeah, I guess ya can say I did…"

"You guess?" Brook questioned.

Chas took a deep breath, reaching back inside Atif's back and began hooking up the heating machine once again. "It's true I found him, but if it wasn't for Marco's constant naggin' I wouldn't have picked him up an' taken him back to the ship." Chas pulled her arm back out and leaned back on her stool. "Marco was the one that did most of the repairs, I only helped because he asked for weapons expertise."

"So, you're denying everything?" Usopp questioned.

"Pretty much," Chas said, beginning to tinker with Atif's system again.

"I refuse to believe that!" Luffy said, crossing his arms. Everyone looked at him, even Chas. "If any of that was true, then why did you bring him back this time? If you didn't care, then you would have just left him! Plus, you were smiling when talking about him earlier, right?" Luffy grinned and snickered. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Teaspoon."

Chas continued to look at Luffy, just trying to understand his logic in the slightest.

"He has a point," Nami said, smiling with a light chuckle.

Chas scoffed and returned to her work. "I guess." Chas finished hooking up the last few wires to the heater and when it was on and running, she smiled confidently. "All right, Atif, we're all done!" Chas pulled back and shut the door on Atif's back. She then stood and went around to look at him, wiping her hands over her jumpsuit. "How ya feel?"

Atif moved his hands a bit, looking around. "I feel warm."

Chas laughed. "That's exactly the point." Chas looked back over her shoulder, smiling to Franky. "Thanks for helping, Franky."

Franky held a thumbs and winked at her. "Anything to help, Ikasu!"

"All right!" Luffy cheered, jumping off the table and holding his hands up in the air. "Now that Atif is repaired, let's get moving!"

Everyone raised an eyebrow, not knowing what Luffy was planning. But from his grin, it wasn't going to good.


	43. Chapter 43

"I knew this was a bad idea…" Zoro grumbled, taking another giant step forward in the blizzard.

"Less talking!" Luffy said, crossing his arms and holding his head high. "More walking!"

"You have no right to say that!" Zoro and Sanji shouted to their captain who was riding on Atif's shoulders.

At the moment, Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, Atif, and Chas were making their way through the ice cream blizzard to the other side of the island. Luffy had decided that he would help Atif remember why he was here (other than following the journal) and what _exactly _happened before he shut down in the middle of nowhere.

Chas went along with the plan, only as a repair man if Atif breaks down again. Zoro didn't trust Chas's judgment (since he noticed how out of it she was) and went in replacement of Nami, who didn't want to go out in the cold. Sanji followed along because he didn't want to leave the two alone; plus, he wasn't too trusting in letting Zoro watch over his dear princess like that.

"Why don't you walk like the rest of us?!" Zoro shouted and then looked to Sanji who was carrying Chas on his back. "You too! Why the hell aren't you walking?!"

"Too…cold…" Chas mumbled, cuddling in her jacket and latching onto Sanji even more (which pleased the chef).

"You can't really expect her to walk in all this snow, can you?" Sanji snarled. "You're one heartless swordsman if you think that!"

"Shut up, Ero-chef!" Zoro snapped right back. "You're spoiling her too much! Just drop her already and make her walk like the rest of us!"

"Not in your dreams, Marimo!" Sanji said. "Your jealousy is getting too damn annoying!"

Zoro popped out a sword. "Say that again, I dare you!"

"You're jealous because she likes me more than you!"

The arguing continued, much to Chas's annoyance. Although, she continued to ignore it, she couldn't do so for much longer. That when she snapped at both of them, joining in the arguing with Sanji on her side.

"I must say," Atif said, drawing Luffy's attention, "your crew, Strawhat Luffy, is impartially dynamic. I don't remember Captain Chasaji being so animated before"

Luffy leaned forward, looking down into Atif's face. "How was Teaspoon as a captain?"

Atif looked up to Luffy. "I'm afraid I do not understand your question, Strawhat Luffy."

Luffy laughed. "Well, was she fun?"

Atif thought for a moment, and soon answered with, "I still do not understand you, Strawhat Luffy," which Luffy was quite surprised about.

"You don't know what 'fun' is?" Luffy questioned.

"I have heard of the word from Marco and others," Atif said. "But I have yet to acquire what this 'fun' is."

Luffy thought for a moment and soon began laughing. "Well, fun something that makes you laugh."

Atif looked to Luffy. "I'm afraid I do not have the ability to laugh."

Luffy laughed again at Atif's strange words. "Everyone has the ability to laugh!" Luffy smiled at Atif. "Come on, try it!"

Atif didn't try to laugh like Luffy asked. He just simply continued to stare at the Strawhat, before his concentration was drawn somewhere else and he suddenly stopped walking, turning his head to look at the distance.

"Something wrong, Atif?" Chas ended up asking, stepping forward towards Atif after she had gotten off of Sanji's back and away from all the arguing.

Atif continued to look towards the distance, before raising his hand towards that direction and having it form into a large cannon. Luffy was impressed, but soon fell off Atif when the cannon was fired, blowing up the hill of chocolate ice cream farther away.

"What the hell, Atif?!" Chas shouted, uncovering her ears.

"Sorry," Atif said, "but I believe we're being followed by the enemy."

"Enemy?" Zoro questioned. "What enemy?" Before Zoro's question could get answered by the machine, an arrow came flying straight at him, Chas, and Sanji. He, of course, managed to deflect it with his blade, along with Sanji who kicked the arrow and broke it in two. Chas, on the other hand, caught the arrow flying at her, soon cursing and throwing it to the ground in frustration.

"Damn Kairoseki," she said, stepping on the arrow. She looked up, deflecting more oncoming arrows. "What do we do, Strawhat?"

"Might I suggest running?" Atif questioned, aiming for the hills where the arrows were appearing.

"That sounds like a good plan," Sanji said, kicking more arrows to the ground.

"What's good about it?" Zoro snarled, cutting an arrow down the middle. "We could easily take these bas-"

"Just shut up and run!" Chas screamed at them, grabbing Zoro and Sanji by the collars and making them run after her, Atif, and Luffy.

* * *

"Damn…" the man cursed, setting down the binoculars onto his lap. "They ran…"

"No worries," the second man said, placing his bow behind him, "they don't have anywhere to hide in these ruins…"

The first man looked to the second, snarling. "We lost that machine once, we can't afford to lose it again with all that info-"

"I know what's at stake!" the second man shouted. "And we'll get it back before that damn robot can remember anything about what he saw!" The man smirked, looking through his set of binoculars to see the small group running further and further away. "We can't afford that information getting leaked out, even if that means more casualties."


	44. Chapter 44

"Get this damn arrow out of me!" Chas screamed in between her heavy breaths as she gripped her leg.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Chas-san!" Sanji said, trying to calm the girl. "Just hang in there a little longer."

At the moment Zoro, Sanji, and Chas were taking cover in a cave found in one of the ice cream hills as Atif and Luffy were returning to the Sunny to get Chopper.

Once they had taken refuge, it was soon discovered that Chas, and Zoro, had been hit with arrows. Zoro had easily pulled his out of his arm, but Chas wasn't so lucky. The arrow in Chas's thigh was stuck, and every time they tried pulling it out it tore more flesh than before. Thus, it was decided Atif and Luffy would go back to the ship and get Chopper, saying as they didn't want to risk dragging Chas with them. There was a possible chance they could get attacked again, and if that happened then Chas would need to fight, but at the moment she couldn't with the Kairoseki arrow in her.

Sanji patted Chas's forehead of the sweat dripping down and then looked back over his shoulder, out the entrance of the cave, looking for any sign of Atif and Luffy. "Damn it! Where the hell are they? They're taking way to long! We didn't stray _that _far from the Sunny!"

"Maybe they got lost," Chas suggested. She then chuckled. "Better than Mochi's idea of going alone."

"Shut up," Zoro snarled, walking back into the cave dusting off his shoulders of all the ice cream snow. "There's no sign of them yet, but the weather's getting worse. If it gets any worse, they probably won't come until morning."

"I told ya," Chas said, narrowing her eyes at both men, "it was a bad idea to send them out anyway! I could take care of myself!"

"Just shut up!" Zoro snapped. "Quit saying you don't need help when you actually do. That's only something a scrawny assed kid would say!"

"Then take yer own advice, Mochi!" Chas shouted at him, about to stand up but Sanji kept her sitting.

"Will you both just stop?!" Sanji shouted at both of them (even if he didn't want to shout at Chas). Sanji looked to Zoro. "There is a group of people out looking for us right now and Chas-san is injured. If we get attacked right now, _we're _going to have to take the initiative! Now's not the time for your petty arguments with her, Marimo!"

"You don't think I know that?!" Zoro shouted at Sanji. "I'm just telling her she needs to stop with her stupid façade and just say she needs help!"

"Of like you've ever done that!" Sanji countered. "When was the last time, in a fight, you got injured and actually admitted that you were so injured you couldn't take care of yourself, huh?!"

Chas sighed, ignoring everything the boys were shouting at each other. At some point she heard another voice begin to talk to her.

"_I'm amazed at your luck, Chasaji…"_

Chas looked around, but no one but she, Zoro, and Sanji were in the cave. This caused her to wonder who was talking to her.

"_Don't worry. I'm all in your head." _The voice chuckled. _"I wouldn't want anyone else hearing me."_

Chas lifted an eyebrow. _Who are you? _she asked through her mind.

"_Who am I?" _the voice questioned with a laugh. _"Why, I'm the thing you've been carrying around for months now!" _Chas's eyes widened. _"Honestly, I should have said something after my first attempt at getting rid of you failed." _The voice sighed._ "I don't ever remember when someone escaped death so many times like you have."_

Chas looked to her right arm, eyeing the armor that encased it. _So yer the voice of the armor?_

"_That's right." _Chas could hear the confident smile in the armor's voice. _"You should be honored, not very many people have heard my voice. Then again, no one has escaped my curse so many times like you have."_

_Sorry to disappoint… _Chas scoffed.

"_Oh, I'm not disappointed." _Chas lifted another eyebrow. _"I would like to ask you a quick question: Why do you think you've been having dreams of your crew's death every night, hm?" _Chas's eyebrows knitted together in irritation. _"Do you think it's your fault because they're dead? Because you weren't the captain you were hoping for? Or is that you're not like Strawhat Luffy and-"_

_SHUT IT! _Chas thought, closing her eyes tightly. _Ya know nothin' about how I feel about that!_

"_Oh, but I do. I know __**exactly **__how you feel. I have been strapped to your scrawny arm for some time now thanks to this curse. I've learned a few things about you, some things you don't even realize yourself." _The voice gave another chuckle. _"And I'm quite intrigued."_

_Well, that's sadistic… _Chas thought with a laugh. _So, what? Yer not goin' to kill me?_

"_Yet." _Chas opened her eyes again, looking towards the armor again. _"But just know there's always a chance of me changing my mind. Then again, if you manage to figure out the journal and find the rest of me then I won't kill you as a reward."_

_Why the hell would I care about that?_

"_Aren't you afraid of death?"_

Chas was silent for a moment.

"_Every human, no matter how strong, is afraid of the things they can't control: Fate, time, death. You're no different, Captain of the Shotgun Pirate Chasaji. You're just putting up a front like everyone else."_

Chas closed her eyes once again. _And that's where you're wrong._

"_Hm?"_

_It's true that most people fear death, or fate, or maybe even time…but I know a few people who don't care for any of them. _Chas laughed. _And truthfully, I've gotten to be the same way. _Chas smiled. _So if ya want to kill me, then do it._

The armor gave a moment of silence before speaking again. _"Interesting…" _After that, Chas didn't hear anything more from the armor.

"OW!" Chas screamed when she suddenly felt the arrow move in her leg. She looked up and saw Chopper in front of her, shocked, along with the others: Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Atif.

"You're awake!" Luffy cheered, grinning widely.

"I've been awake!" Chas shouted.

"No you haven't," Zoro said, crossing his arms. "You passed out minutes before they arrived."

Chas was confused. She could have sworn she was awake and watching Zoro and Sanji argue with each other. Was it all just in her head?

"Chas," Chopper said, hovering his hoof over the arrow, "I'm going to pull it out on the count of three, okay?"

Chas nodded. Chopper then counted down and when he reached 'three', he yanked the arrow out of her thigh, making her scream a few curses from the pain. But after a while, the pain subsided and Chas could only feel the blood slowly run down her leg and her eyes begin to shut on her.

"Chas?" Chopper questioned, but she was unresponsive. "Chas, are you all right?"

Chas's eyes shut and the voices from Chopper and the others began blurred and was just a bunch of ringing in her ears. Pretty soon, she saw absolutely nothing, having passed out from the loss of blood.


	45. Chapter 45

"_Lalala~" the little girl continued to sing, swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for that very special person to return. The girl with the red hair soon looked up and around, watching people pass by her, but none of the person she wanted to see. She soon pouted. "Ojiki's late again…"_

"_I'm not late."_

_The little girl looked up, blinking at the tall man that stood behind her. His arms were crossed and a scowl on his face._

"_Yes ya are," the little girl said, with a straight face. She soon pointed to a nearby clock. "Ya said you'd be here by noon! It's one o'clock!"_

_The man looked to the clock and scoffed. "That says twelve o'five, Bouzu."_

_The girl looked to the clock again and frowned. "Oh…sorry…" The girl soon squealed when she was picked up from her seat and placed at the man's shoulders. She leaned forward, looking into her uncle's frowning face, noticing something was a bit off. "Something wrong, Ojiki?"_

_The man looked up and to his niece, only to soon look away from her. "Yeah, everything's fine. Just wondering where to take you."_

"_Oh, I know!" the little girl cheered with a smile. "Let's go to Sally's! She said she'd give me a free ice cream if we came today!"_

"_You don't need all that sugar," the man scolded, making the girl pout and argue with him as they continued walking down the street._

_Chas watched this memory from the sidelines, hands stuffed in her pockets, a scowl on her face, and the sight thought of 'what the hell' in her mind. Even with all that, she soon found herself following her Uncle Smoker and her younger self down the street._

"_Why the hell am I thinkin' of this?" Chas mumbled to herself, ignoring the childish argument her younger self and her uncle were having at the moment._

"_I thought you would like a little…reminiscing."_

_Chas turned her head to the side and almost fell over when she saw Zoro standing right next to her._

"_Why the hell are you here, Mochi?!" Chas shouted._

_Zoro turned his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not the swordsman you call Mochi. I merely took his form to appeal more to you."_

_Chas understood that this was the armor talking to her, which mostly angered her more. "Well, change into someone else. Yer pissin' me off by showin' his face."_

_The armor sighed and clanged forms, just the next one, which was Smoker, was much more to Chas's disliking. "Better?"_

"_Not at all!" Chas said, glaring, which received a glare from the armor in return._

_The armor changed a few more times, changing from Luffy, to Shanks, to Chopper, and to many other people Chas knew. All in all, the armor ended up staying as Zoro after Chas told him she couldn't take him seriously as anyone else._

"_Tell me again: Why am I watchin' this?" Chas questioned, crossing her arms as she watched herself run around in circles after she had gotten her ice cream from Sally's Ice Cream Parlor._

"_Like I said," the armor said, "I thought you would like to reminisce about your childhood." The armor turned to look at Chas, smiling. "Most people love reliving their childhood."_

"_Well, I don't," Chas snarled, turning her back to the happy image, "now get rid of it."_

_The armor frowned and narrowed his eye slightly, the image slowly fading into blackness. "What makes you so bitter about your past?"_

_Chas froze and looked back over her shoulder. "I'm not bitter about my past. It's just that memory doesn't serve as a happy one."_

"_And why is that?" the armor questioned. Chas didn't answer him, which made him irritated with her. "Is it because your mother died that day?" Chas's eyebrows twitched. "Or is it because your Uncle didn't mention anything about it until-"_

"_Shut up!" Chas snapped, turning around and gripping the armor's collar. "Quit screwin' around and tell me what ya want with me!" Chas suddenly let go with she had a splitting pain in her head, making her drop to her knees and grip her head._

"_Don't forget that I could kill you at any given moment, Chasaji," the armor said, kneeling down in front of her. "The only reason I haven't is because you interest me with your good luck." The armor soon sighed. "That and I need your help in finding the rest of me."_

_Chas chuckled. "Why don't ya just find someone else to do yer dirty work?"_

_The armor looked at Chas once again. "Because you're most likely the most interesting subject that I've got stuck with, Miss Chasaji." Chas managed to look up when the pain subsided. "You're also the one who has the journal, meaning I'm sticking with you whether you like it or not."_

* * *

Chas's eyes flew open, her breath heavy as she looked around. She was back in the cave with everyone else: Atif, Luffy, Chopper, Sanji, and Zoro. They were all asleep in their separate parts of the cave. Luffy snored loudly as he hugged a rock, biting on it sometimes; Sanji was wrapped up in a blanket, smiling as he talked in his sleep (something about her she couldn't make out); Atif was shut down in a corner, nearby; and Chopper was sleeping in Zoro's lap while the swordsman lean up against the wall, snoring loudly.

Chas slowly sat up, the blanket she was draped with falling to her lap. She took a deep breath and looked around at everything once again. She was indeed in the cave with everyone, but she had the small feeling something was off.

Chas soon jumped when she heard someone yawning loudly. She looked over her shoulder to see Zoro moving around, snuggling into his jacket and soon snoring loudly again. Chas couldn't help but chuckle at this, suddenly feeling a wave a relief washing over her.


	46. Chapter 46

"I can't believe ya got us lost…" Chas grumbled, limping along through the forest with Zoro's help.

"I didn't get us lost," Zoro snapped, helping Chas along as he cleared a path through all the branches and bushes, "the others got separated from us."

"Yeah, whatever ya say, Mochi." Chas sighed and continued limping, arm draped over Zoro's shoulders for support and his arm around her for extra help.

At the moment the two were wondering through the Cotton Candy Forest found on the other side of the island (much to Chopper's joy) after having gotten separated from the others. It seems Atif had led them there because this was the 'pink place' he remembered. Soon after the group continued through the forest of cotton candy which led to Zoro and Chas getting split off from the group.

"Are you sure you can't walk?" Zoro asked, breaking another branch to continue forward.

Chas's eyebrow twitched, but she didn't answer him because the answer was obvious already.

"What about you?" Chas finally said, glancing to him. "Are ya sure ya should be usin' that arm of yer's?" Chas nodded towards his exposed upper body.

Zoro glanced to his bandaged arm and then looked away, continuing to use his sword to cut through the branches and such for a path. "Yeah, it's fine." After that said, he fell silent again, having no further argument to give.

"_Well…this relationship is interesting…"_

Chas's eyebrow knitted together. _What the hell do ya want? _she thought, talking to the armor that had now been speaking whenever he wanted to, which annoyed, and slightly worried, Chas. She had the sudden feeling she had no privacy.

"_I get bored not having anything to do," _the armor pouted. _"Being stuck to your sweaty arm isn't all that it's cracked up to be you know."_

"Shut it…" Chas mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Zoro snarled, stopping in his tracks and looked to Chas.

Chas looked to Zoro and smiled. "Ah, sorry…talkin' to myself." Chas then laughed.

Zoro shrugged it off and continued dragging her along with him.

"_What is your relationship with this swordsman?" _the armor soon questioned.

_Why are ya askin'? _Chas replied.

"_I'm curious," _the armor answered. _"It's obvious he's important to you. And it's quite obvious he feels __**something **__for you." _The armor chuckled. _"After all, a few of your friends have been trying ever so desperately to push you two together." _The armor soon grumbled. _"Except that chef…"_

_He's not important, _Chas snarled. _He's… _Chas was at a loss for words. What was he, exactly? A friend? No, not even close. A comrade? Most likely, but that still didn't fit her feelings somehow. Lover? Hell no. A brother? Luffy was more brotherly then Zoro would _ever _be.

"_Maybe you __**are**__ as clueless as you appear..."_ the armor said.

_HEY! _Chas snapped, breaking her pondering. _I'm not clueless!_

"_Oh, and one more thing, you might want to duck." _The armor soon left.

"Duck?" Chas questioned out loud before her head was suddenly pushed down by Zoro's large hand. After that, she heard a small clang from an arrow hitting a sword before getting pulled back up and getting pushed to the side, where she fell to sit on a rock. "What the hell, Mochi?!" Chas shut her mouth immediately afterwards when she saw a man with a bow and arrows pointed right at Zoro and herself.

"Are you the guy that shot us?" Zoro asked, pointing his sword to the arrow man.

"That's correct," the man said. The man looked to Zoro, then to Chas, then back to Zoro. "You are Pirate Hunter Zoro and Shotgun Pirate Captain Chasaji, friends of the robot, correct?"

"Who's askin'?" Chas questioned, standing on her good leg with confidence.

"I'm Banja the Hunter," the man answered, before drawing back his bow. "And I've come to kill you."

* * *

"Chas-san!" Sanji cried as loud as he could, but, just like the other fifty times, there was no answer.

"I wonder where everyone else went off to…" Chopper pondered, taking another bite of the cotton candy bush.

"Either way, we have to find them!" Sanji said, beginning to walk in circles. "There's no way Chas-san is all right by herself, especially in her condition!" Sanji began crying. "I should have never left her side!"

"But she's with Zoro, isn't she?" Chopper questioned, following behind Sanji as he began walking forward, until he stopped abruptly.

"That damn Marimo!" Sanji screamed, grabbing his head. "This was all a part of his plan to get her alone and…and…" Sanji bit his handkerchief as the dirty thoughts about what Zoro could be doing to his dear Chas at that moment (some not appropriate for young, innocent people). "That pervert! I'm going to kill him is he lays a hand on her!" Sanji was soon running off, without Chopper.

"W-Wait, Sanji!" Chopper was soon running after the chef, as fast as his legs could take him with all the cotton candy weight.


	47. Chapter 47

Sanji continued to run through the forest, looking everywhere for Zoro and Chas. He hadn't slowed down to let Chopper catch up, but it seemed that didn't matter because Chopper had stopped running a long time ago.

"Let go of me!"

Sanji stopped in his tracks when he heard Chas's faint shout. He perked his ears towards the sound and was soon running off into that direction, beginning to think he was right about Zoro wanting to take advantage of her. This just fueled his anger and jealousy even more, making him run a lot faster than normal.

Pretty soon, Sanji could see Zoro and Chas's shadowed figures, in, what looked like, and embrace. Little did Sanji realize that Zoro had pulled Chas away from Banja who had her in a death grip earlier.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Marimo?!" Sanji shouted, running up to them and kicking Sanji off of Chas.

"Black Leg?!" Chas shouted, surprised and a bit relieved.

"Chas-san!" Sanji chimed, hugging her tightly, only to have Chas almost get suffocated against his chest. "I'm so sorry I didn't stay with you! Did that asshole touch you? Did he force you to do anything you didn't want to do? Oh, I'm just so happy you're safe!"

"Are you an idiot?!" Zoro shouted, rubbing his cheek and picking up his sword before facing Sanji, who was giving the exact same glare back to him. "Why'd you kick me?!"

"Who's the shithead here?!" Sanji shouted back, putting Chas behind him. "You're the one trying to take advantage of her!"

"I wasn't trying to take advantage of anyone!" Zoro shouted right back, his cheeks flaring up.

"Can't you both just shut up?!" Chas shouted, breaking the two apart. "We have more pressin' matters to deal with!"

"I'm afraid I agree with the woman." Zoro, Sanji, and Chas turned their heads to see Banja pulling back his bow again, aiming right at them. "But I'm not complaining… This just makes my job easier." Banja released his arrows, only to have Sanji and Zoro break them in two like twigs.

"Oi, Shithead," Sanji snarled towards Banja. "You're the one that shot Chas-san earlier, right?"

"I do believe that was me," Banja said with a smile.

Sanji's eye twitched in irritation.

Zoro shifted his gaze towards Sanji when the chef stepped forward, blocking both him and Chas.

"Get her out of here," Sanji ordered, not turning around to face them.

"Excuse me?" Zoro snarled. "I'm not-"

"Quit arguing and do it!" Sanji said, looking back over his shoulder. "I'll take care of this guy, just make sure she's safe!" Sanji looked forward again, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "This guy's not going to get away with what he did…"

Zoro was silent for a moment before he sighed and said, "Fine, just don't screw up." Zoro then quickly wrapped an arm around Chas's waist as she placed her arm around his neck.

"Be careful, Black Leg!" Chas said as she and Zoro quickly made their escape.

Sanji simply waved a hand over his head before snatching an arrow in the air that Banja had released to hit Zoro and Chas in the back. He then snapped the arrow in two before glaring at Banja. "_No one _gets away with hurting a woman."

Banja simply chuckled.

* * *

"Can't you run any faster?!" Zoro shouted at Chas.

"What do ya think?!" Chas shouted back, sarcastically. She was limping as fast as she could, and even with Zoro's help in walking, she couldn't move as fast as she wanted to. Luckily, the two had gotten pretty far from where Sanji and Banja were having their battle.

"_Don't you have the strange feeling that he let you two get away too easily?"_

Chas glanced to her forehead in irritation. _Where have you been?! _She thought, answering the armor.

"_Watching…observing…planning…but you have yet to answer my question, Chasaji," _the armor said.

_No, I don't find it strange._

Just as Chas thought that, a large, and strong, gust of wind blew, knocking Chas _and _Zoro off their feet and tumbling down a hill. And much to Chas's shock, she had tumbled too far and ended up falling off a ledge, while Zoro stopped nearby, managing to keep himself from falling.

Chas quickly grabbed onto a branch hanging off the side, keeping her from falling all the way down to the water below that was splashing up against the large rocks.

"Damn it!" Chas shouted after hearing a load crack when she tried pulling herself up.

"Grab my hand!" Zoro shouted, reaching out towards Chas to the best of his ability.

Chas tried reaching, but the branch jerked and made her slip a bit. Once getting her grip adjusted, she reached again, using the rocked wall as leverage with her feet.

"Almost…there…" Chas mumbled, stretching as far as she could. Her fingers brushed against Zoro's, but had yet to reach his palm. She reached further, but that's when she slipped, making the branch break.

"Shit!" Zoro cursed, reaching forward to grab Chas, but she was too far out of reach and was now falling down towards the water. And he was unable to do anything.

* * *

An old man sat at a table, drumming his fingers as he watched a video tape on the monitor. On one feed it showed Luffy, Atif, and Chopper (having found friends) getting closer to the cliff where Zoro and Chas were; another showed Sanji on his knees in front of Banja, tired from the man's fast movements; another showed the Thousand Sunny with Nami and the others, talking together about whether to go after everyone or not; and another showed Zoro, sitting on the ground with his head in his hands.

"One down," the old man said with a smile, before he pressed a button to flip to another scene on the screens. It was the beach, nearby the cliff, and what the old man saw didn't please him. "Or not…"

Chas had survived the fall, but barley. She had ended up washing up on shore, unconscious. To make things worse, the Marines had landed on that beach, only to find her.

"_Vice-Admrial Smoker!" _Tashigi said, as Smoker turned over Chas's body with his boot. _"Isn't that…?"_

"_Yeah…" _Smoker answered, stuffing his hands in his pockets. _"Bouzu…" _He looked back over his shoulder. _"Get her to the ship and get her stitched up. After that, lock her up and make sure she can't break free. We can't afford her to escape again."_

"_What about Strawhat and the others?" _a marine questioned.

"_You four!" _Smoker shouted, pouting to four marines who jumped and saluted. _"Go search the island for any sign of the others."_

"_Aye!" _the marines said before running off up the hill.

The old man sitting at his desk cursed, knowing that the robot won't be his only problem. Everyone was now on his island, not knowing the great secret it hid. And the old man hoped on his life that no one would figure out his plan.

* * *

"_What the hell is taking you guys so long?!" _Nami shouted from the Den Den Mushi Luffy had kept in his pocket. After meeting back up with Zoro and Sanji (who was unable to defeat Banja because he ran away), they all proceeded to call the others back at the Sunny.

"Sorry," Luffy said, laughing, "it seems we've ran into some trouble and Sanji ended up fighting some strange dude."

"Before he ran off!" Sanji shouted, crossing his arms as Chopper treated his wounds caused from arrows.

Luffy soon turned serious. "How is everything over there?"

"_We're all fine," _Robin answered, calmly. _"We haven't ran into trouble yet. But we'll stay on or feet."_

"_Has Atif remembered anything?" _Usopp asked.

"I have remembered quite a few things," Atif answered, "but none that would help us figure out what has happened here."

"_Where's everyone else?" _Nami asked. _"I figured I would hear from Zoro and Chas by now."_

Chopper frowned and looked back over his shoulder. "Zoro hasn't said anything since we found him near the cliff…"

"_What about Chas-san?" _Brook questioned.

"We didn't see her," Luffy answered. He looked back over his shoulder to Zoro would have taken his place under a tree. "Oi, Zoro, where'd Teaspoon run off to?" Zoro was still silent. "Oi, Zoro!" Zoro still didn't answer.

"Oi, Marimo!" Sanji shouted. "We're asking a question!"

Zoro gritted his teeth, not standing the questioning and pestering about something that he'd rather not mention. Sadly, he knew he had to tell them at some point. But he just didn't want to fully admit that it really happened.

"She fell, all right?!" Zoro shouted at them.

Everyone went silent.

"What do you mean she fell?" Luffy asked, looking concerned.

Zoro scratched his head. "It wasn't like I didn't try to do anything… It just…" Zoro sighed, exhausted. "She went over the edge of the cliff. Before I could get her, the branch she was holding onto snapped and she…" Zoro couldn't even finish his sentence.

Chopper's eyes filled with water. "S-So…she's…"

Luffy laughed, not wanting to believe the swordsman. "Quit joking around, Zoro, where'd-"

"I'm not joking…" Zoro said, scratching his head again.

Everyone went silent, even the others on the Den Den Mushi didn't say anything.

"S-So…" Chopper spoke up, crying. "C-Chas…is gone?" Chopper wiped his face. "NO! I don't believe it! She wouldn't die from that! She'll come back!"

"Face the facts, Chopper!" Zoro said, not meaning to sound as harsh as he was. "She's d-" Zoro was cut off when he was suddenly punched in the face by Sanji. Sanji then grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up.

"Why didn't you protect her?!" Sanji questioned, shouting at the top of his lungs at the swordsman.

"It's not like I didn't try!" Zoro shouted right back. "There was nothing I could have done!"

"Yes there was!" Sanji shouted. "You're just too much of an idiot to do anything!"

"I dare you to say that again!" Zoro said.

"_STOP IT!"_

Both men went silent at Nami's shout from the Den Den Mushi.

"_There's nothing that Zoro could have done," _Nami said with a loud sniff. _"He tried saving her, but he couldn't. Chas is gone, and we have to face the fact that there was nothing to keep this from happening."_

Sanji gritted his teeth and shoved Zoro away from him before walking off into the forest. He couldn't stand being around anyone at the moment.

"S-Sanji!" Chopper shouted, about to run off.

"_I think it's best to leave him alone, Chopper," _Robin said from the Den Den Mushi.

After that, everyone went silent once again, wondering what they were supposed to do now.


	48. Chapter 48

"AH!"

The marines on deck all jumped at hearing the feminine scream coming from sick bay. It had been a few hours since they had found Chas, and telling from the scream, she had just woken up to find them.

"Guess the girl's awake…" a marines said with the other marines nodding behind him.

There was rummaging and more shouting coming from to room, followed by some painful screams and shouting from Tashigi.

"Damn it, Old Man!" Chas shouted, trying to break away from the chains she was bound with to the bed. "Let me go!"

"Just shut up!" Smoker shouted, hitting Chas on her wounded thigh, making her stop suddenly.

"S-Smoker-san," Tashigi spoke up, reaching out, "please don't be so brash. She's injured!"

"Yeah!" Chas shouted through a groan. "Four eyes is right!" Tashigi's eye twitched at the insult, or nickname, Chas called her.

"You're not _that _injured," Smoker said, hitting Chas again. "Now where's Straw Hat Luffy?!"

"I don't know!" Chas said. "And even if I did know, I wouldn't tell a bas-" Smoker tugged on Chas's cheek, making her scream. "All right, all right! Just stop hurting me!" Smoker let her go. "We got separated from Strawhat, so even I have no idea where he is."

"Who's 'we'?" Smoker asked.

"Mochi and I," Chas said, rubbing her cheek, only to have it pulled on again.

"Quit joking around and tell the truth!"

"I'm not jokin'!" Chas cried. "I was with Mochi!"

"Who's 'Mochi'?" Tashigi asked, after helping Chas get free from Smoker's angered grip.

Chas pouted and rubbed her cheek again. "Roronoa Zoro… We got split from the others and got cornered by a man named Banja."

"How'd you end up on the beach then?" Smoker asked.

"Beach?" Chas questioned. "What the hell are ya talkin' about?"

"We found you on the shoreline, unconscious," Tashigi answered.

Chas looked to the ceiling, trying to remember what happened. That's when she remembered how she fell from the cliff, down into the water. But, how did she end up at shore?

"_Don't be asking me…" _the armor spoke up. _"I'm just as puzzled by the recent events as you are."_

_I thought you were the 'all knowing' armor of Matej Torok, _Chas answered back with a slight scoff.

The armor sighed. _"All I know if that another attempt at killing you has failed and it does, indeed, seem like I'm stuck with you."_

_THIS IS YER FAULT?! _Chas thought before getting snapped back to reality when the door to the room opened.

"Vice-Admiral Smoker!" a marine shouted, saluting from the doorway. "HQ has called back with the information you have requested!"

Smoker sighed and stood from his chair, walking towards the door. "Perfect…" Before leaving with Tashigi, Smoker looked back towards Chas. "Don't even think about trying anything!"

"Not like I can!" Chas screamed as the door closed, leaving her alone in the room with the armor speaking to her.

"_So, Miss Pirate Captain," _the armor said sarcastically. _"Any ideas on how to get out?"_

"No idea…" Chas mumbled, shifting around and playing with the chains around her wrists. "Maybe Ojiki finally got smart."

"_Might I suggest something?" _the armor said, soon continuing his thought.

Chas lifted an eyebrow and soon looked down to her chest, where she reached into her chest and pulled out the whistle that had been around her neck since her birthday. She soon smiled triumphantly, knowing maybe there was a way of getting out, or at least letting the others know she was okay.

* * *

Rui laid on the dining table, looking at the others who were all sitting around either heads in their hands or either tears falling from their eyes. He was confused as to what was happening, but he knew something had happened that made everyone have this moment of gloom.

Pretty soon, Rui heard a small whistle in his ear and he knew right away it was from the whistle.

"KYA!" Rui screamed, making everyone jump and look to him. He stood to his itty-bitty feet and ran in circles, continuing to cry repeatedly.

"What's gotten into him?" Nami asked, wiping her tears.

The others all shrugged, only to have Rui soon fly out the window, shocking them all.

"Wait, Rui!" Usopp called, looking out the window to see the bird flying away. "Oh…dear…Luffy's going to kill us!"

* * *

"KYA!"

Chas looked to the opened window and smiled when she saw Rui flying in, but before she could say anything, Rui tackled her and began to rub against her. "S-Stop it, Rui! I have something ya need to do!"

Rui was pushed away by Chas, making the bird go wide eyed.

"Look," Chas said, "I need you to go find Str-I mean Luffy, and tell him…" Chas continued as the bird nodded, understanding the important task Chas was giving him. "Understand?"

Rui flapped his wings and screeched before flying back out the window, leaving Chas with her thoughts again.

* * *

"This is a bit out of place…" Sanji said, spitting out his cigarette butt as he continued to look at the massive building with the others. A giant yellow building with painted on cotton balls to disguise it from sight, but it didn't work.

"Does this place look familiar, Atif?" Chopper questioned, looking up to Atif.

"Indeed it does," Atif answered. "I do believe I might have been here before. Although, I do not understand_ why _I was here to begin with…"

"Then let's go find out!" Luffy said.

Just as he and the others began walking towards the building, they were abruptly stopped when something smacked into Luffy's face, making him shout. He pulled it away, only to see it was Rui, looking rather frantic.

"Rui?" Luffy questioned. "Why are you here?"

Rui waved his wings franticly, 'kya'ing repeatedly, but no one except Chopper understood what he was saying. Just as everyone was going to give up on trying to understand, Chopper suddenly shouted, "REALLY?!"

"What the hell is it saying?" Zoro questioned, already irritated as is.

Chopper's face paled as he turned to the others, eyes filled with tears. "C-C-C-Chas i-i-i-is…"

"Teaspoon's what?" Luffy questioned.

"SHE'S ALIVE!" Chopper cried with Rui nodding his head continuously. Tears fell down his face, making all his words after that inaudible.

A wave of relief had washed over everyone, especially the one person who had seen her fall. He couldn't express how relieved he was to know she was alive and all right. Strangely he wanted to run off and find her for himself, but he knew he couldn't do that when he had a duty to his captain.

"Wait, how does Rui know this?" Sanji questioned, before letting all his emotions take over.

Chopper, after calming himself, looked to Rui who 'kya'ed again. "He says that Chas called him to give the message to Luffy… She ended up getting found on the shoreline by the marines and is captured right now." Chopper looked to Luffy. "We have to help her, Luffy!"

Luffy nodded and looked towards Sanji and Zoro. "All right, we'll split up. I'll go with Atif and Chopper to check out this place and you two can-" Before Luffy could continue, Rui had begun screaming.

"KYAAA!"

Everyone looked to the bird.

"What?" Chopper questioned. "Chas says not to come?"

"Is she crazy?!" Zoro shouted, expressing a mix of emotions going from furious to concerned to just plain thankful.

"KYA!" Rui shouted, as if answering Zoro's question.

"Chas said she'll be fine on her own and that we should focus on helping Atif," Chopper answered, looking towards the others. "After that, she said she'll meet up with us again when she can."

"All right," Luffy said, smiling.

"What do you mean 'all right'?!" Zoro and Sanji shouted at Luffy, making the boy shrink back.

"Well," Luffy said, still smiling, "if Teaspoon says that she's fine on her own, I believe her."

"Strawhat Luffy is correct," Atif said, finally speaking up. "Captain Chasaji is honest to her word. If she believes she will be all right, she will. We must believe in her."

"Exactly," Luffy said, laughing, before pointing towards the building behind them. "Anyway, let's get moving to the big funny looking castle!" Luffy soon ran off with Atif following, leaving Chopper, Sanji, and Zoro completely shocked with Luffy's incompetence.


	49. Chapter 49

"Z-Zoro…" Chopper stuttered, gripping onto the swordsman's jacket. "I d-don't like this p-place!" Chopper continued to look around at the many wall decorations and felt shiver's run down his spine when he stared into the lifeless eyes of all the mounted heads. "This place looked a lot nicer outside!"

"Stop being so scared," Zoro said, looking around. He couldn't help but find the place rather strange himself, especially when he started seeing _human _heads on the wall. "It's just a few heads, not like they can-" Zoro and Chopper soon jumped, gripping onto each other, when one of the heads fell off the wall and onto the floor with a loud bang.

"I wanna leave!" Chopper cried, gripping onto Zoro's head, which in turn began suffocating the swordsman. The swordsman tried prying the reindeer off of his face, but with no luck whatsoever of accomplishing it.

"Let go of me!" Zoro shouted, trying to keep moving forward with Chopper still latched on. But with Chopper blocking his good eye, he found himself hitting a wall soon after and getting piled on with the mounted heads from the wall.

"Why did Luffy tell us to split up?" Chopper questioned, popping out from under the pile with Zoro.

"How the hell should I know?" Zoro said, throwing aside a head after looking at it for a while.

"Perhaps I could answer your question."

Zoro and Chopper quickly stood to their feet, surprised to see Banja standing down the hall with his bow and arrows.

"Well," Zoro said, smirking, "came back to get your ass kicked?"

Banja smiled. "I figured that girl that was with you would say that." Banja soon laughed. "Where is she? Still stuck with the marines?"

Zoro gritted his teeth, popping a sword out from its sheath a bit.

"How do you know about that?!" Chopper shouted, angrily. "Are you the reason she fell?!"

"No," Banja said, "my hands were far too tied with that chef's pestering to intervene with your escape. No, that was the work of my coworker, who should be dealing with your friends right about now."

"So," Zoro said, smiling sadistically, "we get the honor of kicking your ass while the others get to get your coworkers ass." Zoro pulled out his sword. "I'm not complaining. Just know, after what you've done, I'm not letting you get away like that shitty chef did."

Banja could only frown at the look he was getting from Zoro, having the feeling he had chosen the wrong people to come after.

* * *

"This place looked a lot prettier outside," Luffy said, looking around at all the ugly decorations hanging on the wall.

Sanji snarled, looking around also before looking up to Luffy who had stayed on Atif's shoulders. "Oi, Luffy, you sure it was okay just leaving Chas-san with the marines? She could be in great danger for all we know!"

Luffy looked down to Sanji, smiling. "Yeah, I'm sure. She said she'd be fine."

"But are you sure it was all right sending that bird back to her?" Atif questioned. "There might be a chance that Vice-Admiral Smoker might figure out she has told you everything."

"So?" Luffy said, tilting his head. "Smokey wouldn't do anything to her, they're related!"

"You have to remember, Luffy," Sanji spoke up, "Chas-san and Smoker don't exactly see eye to eye."

"I think they get along just fine," Luffy said.

Before Sanji could even question Luffy's logic, he and everyone else were suddenly pushed over by a gust of wind. The gust of wind made them roll all the way back down the hall, back to where they started.

"What the hell was that?!" Sanji questioned, standing back up to his feet. He could see something down the hall, but was unable to completely tell what it was. From what he could see, it was a slim figure, curvy in some parts, with long, wavy, hair. Sanji immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was a woman, but was soon disappointed when the figure stepped forward. It wasn't a woman, but it was a man dressed as a woman.

"I was wondering when you three would get here," the man said, cocking a hip and flipping his hair back over his shoulder. "I was just getting bored and then here you are, right in front of me."

"Who are you?" Luffy questioned, looking, almost, as disgusted as Sanji was (but naturally the heartthrob playboy was more disgusted than anyone).

"Marci," the man replied, "but it's not like you'll live to remember that." He waved his hand to the side, making another gust of wind to push Luffy, Atif, and Sanji over again.

"Gomu Gomu no-" Luffy stretched back his arm, about to send it forward, but he was stopped by getting knocked over and his attack hitting the roof instead. The roof than crumbled on top of him and Atif making Marci laugh.

"You won't be able to lay a hand on me!" Marci chuckled.

"What about a foot?"

Marci turned his head, just in time to get kicked in the face by Sanji and sent flying into the wall.

"That was my face!" Marci screeched, putting a hand to his overly blushed cheek. "How dare you hit a maiden's face?!"

Sanji scoffed. "Get your gender disagreements settled somewhere else! We don't have time to be dealing with your shit!" Sanji looked to Luffy. "Luffy, hurry up and get going, I'll take care of this guy!"

"Right!" Luffy said, running off with Atif behind him.

* * *

**All right, since this chapter is short, I left a bonus chapter on Tumblr (there's also a picture of Chas, in case you wonder what she looks like, it's just she's without her armor)****. So, go check it out and let me know what ya think! See ya guys next time!**


	50. Chapter 50

**Warning: This chapter is completely crack. Reason being is because I REALLY couldn't think of him to continue this small arc. So, this is the end of it, with a rather bad and strange ending. All and all, don't skip, because then you'll be confused when starting the next chapter.**

**Anyway, I do apologize and have fun anyway!**

* * *

Luffy and Atif had been running for quite some time now, and just as all the cotton candy Luffy ate was catching up with him, the two had managed to reach the main room. Sadly, no one was there.

"I remember this place," Atif said, looking around.

"Really?!" Luffy cheered. "Does that mean you remember everything that happened?!"

"Quite so," Atif answered looking to Luffy. "I was investigating this strange building and ended up finding someone here. Of course, I laid low only to hear something about a project going under ways. After that, I left before I could get caught."

"Hohoho, but you were caught!"

Luffy and Atif looked up, just in time to have a large cage get dropped over them. A man then stepped out from the shadows, wearing fancy clothing and curly hair, and laughed.

"I have finally caught you, Tin Man!" the man laughed. "And now, I shall destroy you and your friend before anything about my project get spoke of to the marines!"

Luffy crossed his arms. "Well, aren't you going to explain your plan first?"

The man's mouth was left open as he stared at Luffy. "E-Excuse me?"

Luffy looked up to the man. "Well, usually master villains explain their plan before killing people, right? So, are you going to explain yours?"

The man pondered that for a moment. "I do suppose you're right…"

"Strawhat Luffy," Atif began, looking to the boy who was smiling confidently, "I do not think this is-"

Luffy chuckled. "Aw, don't worry! I'm going to get us out of here!"

"Quit mumbling to yourselves!" the man shouted, pointing to the two in the cage. Luffy and Atif stopped talking to themselves and began listening, even though the cage was weak to begin with and they could break out at any moment. "You want to know my plan, correct?" Luffy nodded. "Well, it's to find the treasure underneath this island!"

"Treasure?" Luffy questioned, tilting his head. "What treasure?"

"The magnificent, legendary treasure belonging to an old king of the city nearby!" the man continued. "It's said whoever possesses this treasure will be blessed with riches beyond their dream, riches richer than the Pirate King's treasure!" Luffy frowned at this, not believing a word that he was being told. "It's hidden, underneath this island, so I created a large drill to dig through the island and fetch it!"

"Wouldn't that just destroy the treasure?" Luffy questioned, squeezing through the bars of the cage and walking over to the machinery without the man noticing.

"Of course not!" the man shouted, crossing his arms. "I made sure that it wouldn't!"

"And what does this red button do?" Luffy questioned again, pressing the red button before he knew what it did.

The man looked back over his shoulder to Luffy, calmly. "Oh, that's the self-destruct button for the device, in case it ever got stolen or something." The man began turning back around, before realizing what his eyes saw. He turned back around and screamed, making Luffy get his finger off the button. "You stupid brat, what have you done?!"

"What do you mean?" Luffy said. "I only pressed the red button."

"You idiot!" the man shouted, grabbing Luffy by the shoulders. "You're going to kill us all!"

The place around them began shaking, which gave Atif the help he needed to break out (since he couldn't fit through the bars). The man panicked and began running around in circles, only to faint soon after. Luffy could only watch as the man did such things, and shrugged them off soon after.

"Strawhat Luffy," Atif said, walking over to Luffy, "I do believe we should leave before this building collapses on us."

Luffy looked up to Atif, smiling. "Ah, right!" Soon the two were running off to get the others, ducking and dodging through the falling rubble.

* * *

"What the hell is going on now?!" Zoro shouted, cutting through a mounted head that was just about to hit him from all the shaking.

"I believe the self-destruct button has been pressed," Banja said, wiping blood from his cut cheek. He soon looked to Zoro and bowed. "I'm afraid I must be leaving now." Banja then began running off.

"Oh no you're not!" Zoro shouted, grabbing one of the broken heads and throwing it right at Banja, knocking the man to the floor.

"We win!" Chopper shouted, coming out from the pile of heads he had been buried under.

Soon another rumble interrupted them.

"We need to get out of here," Zoro said, grabbing Chopper and running down the hall. Of course, in the _wrong _direction.

"But what about Luffy and the others?" Chopper asked. "We can't just leave them!"

"They'll be fine!" Zoro answered, turning a corner.

"THAT'S THE WRONG WAY!" Chopper screamed in Zoro's ear, making the swordsman turn around and run down the other way, only to get yelled at again. But just as the two turned around, they saw Luffy and Atif running their way.

* * *

Sanji dusted off his hands, looking towards Marci who was collapsed on the ground having been beaten considerable by the anger chef. Much unlike the others, Sanji wasn't in a rush to leave the building as it slowly began crumbling. But, just like the others, he made his way towards the exit without anything else stopping him. That was until he was suddenly grabbed by his arms and dragged towards the exit by Luffy and Zoro who were trying to outrun the falling ceiling behind them.

* * *

After reaching outside, the building crumbled and exploded a few times, setting the cotton candy forest on fire. Of course, Luffy and Chopper tried their best to extinguish the fires near them, only to get pulled away by Zoro, Sanji, and Atif and dragged farther away from the danger, crying for the forest that fell in love with.

"What now?" Zoro asked after they all got away. "Do we go after the marines and get Taiyaki back? Or we just leaving her there and getting back to the ship, trusting she'll get out by herself?"

"I say we go after her!" Sanji shouted, raising his hand in determination. "There's no way we can leave her to fend on her own! Especially on a ship filled with men!"

"Of course…" Zoro grumbled.

"Teaspoon asked us not to interfere though," Luffy said, crossing his legs and leaning against them. "So, I don't think we should go after her." Sanji's face paled while Zoro nodded, obliging to his Captain's wishes.

Luffy looked up, hearing the crunching of twigs and everything behind him. He turned around and saw Atif leaving. "Oi, Atif, where are you going?"

Atif stopped and turned back over his shoulder. "I am heading back to my ship, now that I remember where it is."

"You're not going to return with us?" Chopper questioned. "You didn't even say goodbye to Chas."

"I do not believe in goodbyes," Atif answered. "Goodbyes are only for those who believe they will never see each other again, and I _know _I will see you all again someday. It may not be soon, but it will happen."

Luffy smiled brightly and laughed. "Well, if you join my crew then we'll see each other all the time!"

"There's the question…" Sanji and Zoro sighed.

Atif looked to Luffy. "I'm afraid I cannot do that, Strawhat Luffy."

"Why not?" Luffy questioned.

Atif looked to the small humans, and reindeer, in front of him. "Because I am needed elsewhere, and I still stand faithful to the Shotgun Pirates, even if they will never been reunited."

"There's still a chance," Zoro said. "Maybe Dango will change her mind one of these days."

"But, Zoro," Chopper said, looking up to the swordsman, "wouldn't that mean Chas leaving us? Wouldn't you be lonely after that?"

Zoro's cheeks flushed and he glared at Chopper. "S-Shut up, Chopper! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"But I thought you liked Teaspoon, Zoro," Luffy said, titling his head to the side as he put his hands behind him.

"Y-You too?!" Zoro shouted once again, only to soon get yelled at by Sanji about how stupid he is to even _think _of winning Chas's heart.

"I wish you well, Strawhat Luffy," Atif said, holding out his hand.

Luffy looked to the large robot's hand and smiled, shaking it. "I thought you said you didn't believe in goodbyes?" Luffy laughed.

Atif soon, unknown to him, smiled slightly at Luffy's amusing words. He then left, leaving the Straw Hats to return to their ship by themselves.

* * *

_Back at the ship:_

"WHAT?!" everyone shouted, jaws dropping and wave of relief washing over them all.

"Yeah," Luffy said, scratching his head, "Teaspoon's alive and is captured by the marines."

"And we're not going after her?!" Brook, Nami, and Usopp shouted.

"She told us not to," Zoro said, leaning back against the wall.

"Oh…" Franky and Brook said, putting a finger to their chins and looking to Zoro. "Are you sure you're all right with that?"

Zoro's face flushed again. "Why the hell would I care?!"

"Because you have feelings for her that you just won't admit," Robin chuckled, receiving a glare in reply.

"Chas said she'd meet us on the next island," Chopper said, looking to everyone. "After she breaks free of the marines of course."

"All right!" Luffy cheered, smiling. "Let's keep moving forward and hope Teaspoon breaks free soon!"

"RIGHT!" everyone said.


	51. Chapter 51

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER AND THE CHAPTERS AFTER IT CONTAIN SPOILORS FROM THE PUNK HAZARD ARC (EPISODES 579-CURRENT AND CHAPTERS 654-700). IF YOU HAVE NOT READ/WATCHED THESE YET, I SUGGEST SKIPPING OVER THESE CHAPTERS. Hopefully you won't get TOO confused...**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Chas continued to sit on the crates, listening to the Den Den Mushi as it gave its static filled message to G-5's marines. "Punk Hazard" was the only thing Chas could hear in all of the static (other than Luffy's voice declaring he's going to be pirate king along with other things) which made Chas quite nervous. She'd heard stories about Punk Hazard, and none of them were good.

"Smoker-san!" Tashigi said, franticly looking to her superior. "Did you hear that?"

"Dammit…just what kind of route did they take…?" Smoker mumbled to himself, or Tashigi, it was hard for Chas to tell over the cheers from the other crew members, who were currently burning a pirate. "There's a one in three chance…normally, at least…" He looked to the Log Pose in his hand. "The three islands that compasses would point to from Reika Shima and-"

"Stop thinking so complicated…" Chas said with a sigh as she scratched her head. "It's Strawhat, he wouldn't follow a damn needle." Chas looked up to her Uncle, smirking at him. "Maybe you should study yer target more, Ojiki."

Smoker simple narrowed his eyes at Chas, not giving her a reply just yet.

"But…" Tashigi said. "Punk Hazard is a deserted island that's been closed off ever since the incident four years ago! It's strange that there would be anyone there."

"True," Smoker said, looking towards the thundering island ahead, "it doesn't seem like the kind of place where any sort of creature would exist now… But it's our only clue." Smoker turned to look at his men. "We're setting out men!"

"Wait a minute!" Chas shouted, standing to her feet, waving her arms around. "Ya do know it's forbidden to go there, right?!"

Smoker quickly gripped his niece by her collar, glaring at her. "You have no right to talk about laws with me."

"I was never tellin' ya _not_ to go," Chas said, narrowing her eyes in the same manner. "I'm just sayin' it's not a good idea, especially for a marine of yer standard. Even if Strawhat went there, doesn't mean _you_ should."

"Remember, Bouzu," Smoker said, "you're prisoner on this ship." Smoker then let Chas go and went back to ordering his men around to get the ship moving.

Chas sat back down, wondering if she was really a prisoner. Sure her uncle had captured her on Reika Shima; chained her to a bed as she healed' cuffed her with a special shackle to keep her from using her Kaki Kaki no Mi afterwards; but other than that she was free to do whatever she wanted. She knew that if it was any other pirate (as seen with the one the marine officers were torching) she would be thrown in a cell, tortured, and unable to do anything. Chas couldn't help but think she was getting special treatment from her disliked Uncle.

* * *

After getting through the many icebergs and the gas that had been at the entrance, the marines of G-5 had gotten to land. Now before them was a large building, covered in white from the falling snow, but to everyone else it looked like it was being used.

Chas crossed her arms, snuggling into the black, fur, coat Tashigi had kindly given her to wear, and continued to listen to Smoker buzz the buzzer continuously. This drove everyone mad and the officers were beginning to say that they should just break the door down. Chas admitted it was a good idea.

"This door won't hold up for long if we hit it with canons!" one said. "Let's take it down, Smoker-san!"

"Just break it down!" Chas shouted at her uncle. "I'm freezin' off my ass here because of yer polite-"

Chas cut herself off when the door suddenly began opening, shocking everyone even her. "…You've gotta be kiddin' me…"

"Decided to come quietly, eh?!" one marines shouted. "Good choice! Surrender now to the marines!"

At first, that's what they were saying, until they saw who was occupying the place. Even Chas stopped thinking that the person needed to be shot or something after seeing the lean figure at the door. She knew him, everyone did, but she, sadly, knew him a bit better than most. The familiar yellow symbol on the left sleeve and bottom left of his black jacket; the white fur hat that always sat upon his dark head; and the sword that he always carried around.

_Trafalgar Law…_ Chas thought with a sigh, just as all the marines shouted it.

"What business do you have at my villa, White Hunter?" Law asked with a smile, leaning against the metal door. He was calm, composed, and didn't seem _at all_ shocked to see Smoker there.

"What's a shichibukai doing in place like this?!" the officers shouted. They looked to Smoker. "We need to leave quickly, Smoker-san! We don't want to get involved with this guy!"

"We've already gotten involved!" Chas shouted at them, making them all go quiet and creating a smile on Law's face that was hidden by his hat. "It's best if ya all shut up an' quit being so annoyin' before he's not the only one yer goin' to have to worry about!"

"You can't do anythin'!" a marine said to Chas. "That ankle brace won't let you!"

Chas soon grabbed that officer by the collar and pulled him close, scaring him. "Wanna bet?" Chas soon pushed the marine away and focused back on the confrontation at hand, along with Tashigi and the rest of the marines.

"This island is off-limits to everyone, friend of the Government or otherwise, Law," Smoker said, narrowing his eyes at the man.

"Then I guess that would include you too, am I right?" Law asked confidently. He soon looked over to Chas, noticing she was a bit surprised when he looked at her. "I wouldn't have expect you to bring _her_ along… Last I heard you were missing, Shotgun Chasaji."

Chas crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the man, having vivid memories that she didn't want to think of. "Ya sound a bit disappointed that I didn't stay missin', Law. Didn't want to see me again?"

After looking Chas over for a moment, not willing to give her an honest answer, he looked back to Smoker and asked, "Why are you here?"

"Following a lead," Smoker said. Tashigi soon pulled out the Den Den Moshi and played the tape on it, letting Law understand why they were there. After a while, his face darkened and his frown depend.

When the Den Den Moshi ended, Tashigi spoke. "The name of the island references to a frigid climate…"

"It's safe to assume that the signal came from here, wouldn't you agree?" Smoker said, cutting Tashigi off. "I hear you know Straw Hat Luffy, yeah? Two years ago, on Shaboady, the two of you and Kidd fought as allies. In the incident surrounding the Tenryuubito family of Rosward. What's more, at the ultimate war, when Strawhat was being pursued by Akainu, it was you that helped him escape."

Law gave a small smirk, still staying silent for a moment until he finally said what he was thinking. "What are you after? I know full well that the marines are skilled at fabricating distress signals and the like."

"I'm afraid this transmission isn't some trap we came up with," Smoker answered honestly.

"And you expect me to believe that? This discussion is over."

Before Law could leave, Smoker stopped him. "Don't make this difficult, Law. Let me see what's inside the Lab."

"It's not a lab," Law snapped, glaring. "It's my villa, and I refuse." Law's frown deepened. "What's so wrong with a pirate like me occupying an island that your lot had abandoned? There's no one else here. It's just me. If Strawhat does happen to show up, I'll be happy to take care of him for you." Chas glared at Law, and he notice. "Now if that's all you have to say, I suggest you leave."

Chas brushed past her uncle, before he could stop her, and gripped Law's jacket, pressing him, roughly, against the wall.

"If I know one thin', Law," she said, meeting his yellow eyes coolly, "it's that yer hidin' somethin'. Also"-Chas tightened her grip on his collar-"if ya even touch a single hair of Strawhat's head, I won't let ya get away with it."

Law smirked, still not breaking eye contact with Chas. He found her rather amusing to say the least.

Chas was going to say more before shouting could be heard inside the lab, along with running footsteps. When Chas, and everyone looked up, she was shocked to see Chopper, Nami, Sanji, and Franky making their way towards the door with giant children behind them.

Chas quickly moved before Chopper could knock her out of the door way, let alone notice her.

"We're free!" Chopper shouted while Nami shouted about how cold she was now.

Chas continued to stare in shock, and when she looked to Law, she saw he was also shocked. That's when she _knew_ he had nothing to with them being there. He was just as confused as she was.

The group of children and four fellow crew members finished their dance of being free from the creepy lab, only to find Law staring at them, along with the marines (still not noticing Chas next to Law).

"AH!" Nami shouted, pointing a finger. "I recognize you!"

"Oh yeah!" Chopper said, just as shocked. "You were on Shaboady!"

"You fiend!" Sanji shouted, peeking out from behind everyone. "Don't tell me you're the one keeping all these children here! Of all the dirty, rotten, no-good crooks! If it isn't Smoker and his beautiful young lady friend and-" Sanji stopped when he noticed the face that he had missed so much ever since Reika Shima days ago. "CHAS-SAN!" Sanji quickly ran over and hugged the girl, surprising her. He hadn't seen her beautiful face in such a long time, and having figured she was dead (along with the others who had also tackled her into a hug after his sudden shout), he was more than happy to see her.

Law chuckled a bit at this, looking away from Chas when she glared at him. "Quit laughin'!"

"Sorry, I just find it amusing how quickly you move on," Law said, looking back at Chas. Chas simply stuck out her tongue at him.

"Wait…" Sanji said, pushing away from Chas. He soon turned his head to see all the marines in front of them. "This is bad…the marines are onto us! We'd better head back and find a different way out!"

"Back inside everyone!" Chopper shouted, quickly running inside with the large children, Nami, and Franky.

Sanji grabbed Chas's wrist, going to pull her with them, but sadly Smoker quickly grabbed her ankle and pulled her back with his smoke.

"CHAS!" Nami shouted, going to run back and get her.

"Leave me!" Chas shouted. "I'll find ya later, promise! Just GO!"

Nami, even though she was reluctant at first, quickly pulled Sanji back from running to get her, and the group quickly hurried away leaving Chas behind with the marines yet again.

"You had the nerve to claim you were alone?" Smoker snarled at Law.

"I must admit," Law said, still not fully understanding what just happened, "I'm a little taken aback myself…"

Tashigi, deciding to take action to catch Sanji and the others, quickly told the men to go after them. But Smoker knew it wasn't such a good idea, as did Chas.

"How dare they cause a ruckus on my island?" Law grumbled, mostly to himself. "Room!"

_Damn it!_ Chas thought when she saw the large bubble appear around the given area.

"Tact," Law said, lifting his finger.

"Stop this, Law!" Chas screamed as all the marines were focused on their ship going up to the sky. "Ya don't have-"

"I'm afraid I can't let any of you leave this island, including you, Chasaji," Law said, coldly. "I apologize for claiming that there was nobody else here…"

"Fall back!" Smoker quickly shouted towards everyone. "None of you stand a chance, you'll be torn to pieces!"

"I told you we shouldn't have gotten involved with this guy!" a marine shouted as he and the others ran away as they were ordered to.

"Just shut up and move!" Chas shouted. She turned back to look over her shoulder to see Smoker and Tashigi still standing their ground. This made her stay too, even if the other marines shouted for her to run away.

Law soon took out his sword, mumbling something to himself, and then pointing it at Sanji, Nami, Franky, and Chopper who were trying to get away.

"Stop, Law!" Chas shouted, but she was too late.

"Shambles," Law said.

The group had switched without even noticing, but Chas wondered why he had done that. It didn't stop them from running away. So, why?

"Vice-Admiral!" a marine shouted. "We've gotta retreat! This guy's ability is just too freaky! He sent our battle ship flying, slices it clean in half, and sends it flying right at us! We can't fight him!"

"He's right, Smokey!" Chas shouted at Smoker. "Ya can't fight him!"

Smoker ignored Chas, which just made her worry a bit, like any niece would, and said, "Stop worrying! Shichibukai are meant to work for the government, he can't attack us, it's violation of the contract! You hear that, Trafalgar?! We'll report you to Marine HQ and your title will be revoked!"

"No worries…" Law said, smiling as he pointed his blade down and moved it sideways. "Scan!" Soon every marine was scanned and their Den Den Mushis were taken out of their pockets and thrown to the side behind Law. "I can't allow you to report anything you've seen here to either Marine HQ or the World Government." Law looked to Chas. "That includes you."

Chas gritted her teeth, but before she could say anything, Smoker charged Law. He tried hitting him, but none of Smoker's attacks would get Law.

Smoker looked back over his shoulder for a moment, shouting to his men not to come and to get out of the circle.

"That includes you, Bouzu!" Smoker said, looking to Chas.

"I'm not leavin'!" Chas shouted at him, not even noticing Law had swung his sword and sliced the marines in half.

"With this space, he controls everything!" Smoker shouted. "They don't call him the Surgeon of Death for nothing!" Smoker noticed out of the corner of his eye, Tashigi was charging Law. "Fall back, Tashigi! Your Haki can't stand up to his ability!" But before Tashigi could even listen, she was sliced in half too.

"I'm ashamed," Tashigi said, panting as she looked up to face Law. "To be sliced down and yet still draw breath… If you must slice me down, then at least take my life, Trafalgar!"

"A proper swordsman at heart, are you?" Law scoffed, looking down on Tashigi. "Then remember this, Lady Marine: The weak don't get to choose how they die."

Chas gritted her teeth, not remembering Law every being this way. She had known him for a long time, but she never once experienced this side of him. She knew he changed in all those years.

"_I never figured you'd have such a…friend…" _the armor spoke in her head.

_I don't have time for your bullshit right now! _Chas replied to it. _Now go away!_

"_Is that really any way to talk to me?" _the armor questioned. _"I was simply saying your relationship with this Shichibukai is a rather fascinating one. I would have never figured you were a girl to-"_

_SHUT UP! _After Chas thought that, the armor went silent.

"You fiend!" Tashigi shouted, trying to slash at Law again.

"You're not going to reach me with a blade like that," Law said, quickly cutting her sword in half. "I'll slice you up some more if that's what you really want." Law raised his sword and was ready to send it down on Tashigi.

Chas quickly smashed her leg against a rock, breaking the bracelet keeping her Kaki Kaki no Mi in control easily, and ran towards Tashigi, protecting her from Law's attack.

"Saving a Marine?" Law questioned, stopping half way from his strike. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Stop this," Chas said, letting an officer grab Tashigi and take her away to safety. "Ya don't have to do this, Law..."

Law didn't say anything to Chas, but was quite surprised when she tried shooting him with her Kaki Kaki no Mi pistol. He quickly made the bullet go someplace else and sent her back with a kick to the shoulder. Chas was about to attack again but she was stopped when Smoker suddenly blocked Law's attack, which she didn't even see.

"GO SMOKEY!" all the marines cheered.

Smoker quickly got behind Law, surprising the man, and wrapped a hand around his neck, sending him to the ground. Smoker then quickly got over Law and sent his Jutte on top of him. But Law quickly avoided it and ended up somewhere else.

"I feel a nasty sort of energy," Law said, "that must be Kairoseki on the end of your Jutte." Law then swung his sword, getting Smoker's Jutte in the hit, which was what he was aiming for. But in the process, Law had managed to cut down the large pillar of land in the background of the fight, shocking the marines watching.

The marine officers of G-5 quickly ran, taking Tashigi with them, who shouted for Smoker and Chas to get out of there, but they didn't.

Chas quickly decided to help, even if she knew Smoker didn't want it, and made a machine gun with her armored hand.

Law quickly deflected the bullets and slashed towards her, trying to cut her in half so she couldn't go anywhere, but he missed. Instead, Law had only managed to cut off her left arm when she dodged, which did just as well in his opinion. Truthfully, he only wanted to teach her a lesson.

"Stay out of this, Bouzu!" Smoker scolded her before sending another attack at Law. And the fight continued on, but Smoker made sure to keep her niece out of it, not wanting her to get anymore hurt then she already was, even if he knew she was capable of much more.


	52. Chapter 52

"I've never trusted a single one of you shichibukai!" Smoker shouted, charging towards Law once more.

"Pretty wise of you," Law said, raising his finger calmly, sending a pillar of ice into Smoker.

"So, what's this place to you?" Smoker questioned, quickly recovering from the attack. "There's someone pulling the strings, right?!" Law seemed a bit surprised. "What are you plotting?!"

Smoker quickly turned to smoke and sent his feet towards Law, making him block that attack as he came from behind. But Law knew and quickly blocked with his sword once again.

"I could ask you the same question!" Law said, almost out of breath.

Chas continued to watch the two go at it from the sidelines, trying to find her arm which had gotten lost in the snow Smoker had buried her in earlier. He wasn't going to let her get in the way again.

Law raised his finger again, making a large rock of ice rise in-between him and Smoker. He ducked behind it as Smoker slashed through it, when Smoker didn't see Law behind the pillar, he knew something was wrong.

"There are some things you can't see unless you venture afield a little, Smoker," Law said, raising the ice to cover Smoker's hand, keeping him trapped in that spot. He soon thrust his hand forward into the rock, hitting Smoker's chest and making something pop straight out his back.

Smoker slowly, and shakily, looked down to see a square where his heart should be.

"OJIKI!" Chas screamed, tears coming to her eyes when she saw Smoker's heart roll across the ground in its small, square, box.

Law walked past Smoker, picking up the box and looking at it for a long while.

Chas's tears soon began streaming down her face when she saw Smoker collapse to his knees. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"I have no reason to tell you anything," Law said as he walked away from Smoker's collapsed body.

Chas gritted her teeth, angrily. She was about to stand to her feet, going to attack Law as payment for what he just did to her Uncle, but she soon found herself knocked out by Law, pinching a nerve on her neck. She then collapsed into the snow, and Law began walking away again, forgetting about her.

"Hey, look! It's a battleship!"

Law stopped walking and turned his head, seeing something closing in from the distance.

"Does that mean the marines are here?"

"If the marines are here, that means Chas is here too!"

"What?! There was nothing here a few minutes ago!"

Law sighed and watched at the large figure came closer, knowing from the voice who it was. "Mister Strawhat…"

"WOW!" Luffy shouted, surprised to see Law in the distance. "It's you!"

Zoro, Robin, Usopp, and Brook looked over to see who Luffy was shouting to, only to see Law standing in the distance.

"That's the guy we met at the human shop on Shaboady isn't it?" Zoro questioned, crossing his arms.

"Trafalgar Law," Robin said. "Now he's…" Before she could continue, Luffy cut in with his loud shouting.

"That's right!" he said. "Trafol…Trafal-guy! That's it, that's him! He helped me escape from Whitebeard's war and healed my wounds!"

"Your wounds?" Brook said, shocked.

"That's right! Just like with Jimbie, I owe my life to him!"

Law continued to ignore Luffy's constant talking and watched as the pirate captain closed in. What was he doing there? Was everyone there to ruin his plans? Law really didn't know, nor did he care, actually. He could use it to his advantage nonetheless.

"I didn't think we'd meet here though!" Luffy said again, jumping off of Brownbeard and walking over to Law. "I'm glad! Really, thank you for helping me back then. Huh?" Luffy looked around. "Where's the talking bear?"

Law continued to stare at Luffy, thinking back to the incident in which Luffy was talking about.

"You did well to survive, Strawhat," Law finally said, just realizing that the boy had completely ignored the body of Smoker and Chas, who seemed to be familiar with him, nearby. "But what happened back then…there's no need for you to feel indebted. I just acted on a whim."

Usopp looked around the area, realizing how destroyed everything looked and noticed something in the distance, a ways off. "Hey, there's a marine lying over there! Could that be…?"

Zoro quickly looked back over his shoulder and noticed the two marine bodies lying there. He then noticed one with red hair and knew immediately that it was Chas.

"Uh, Zoro?!" Usopp shouted when Zoro suddenly jumped into the snow and ran over to the body.

Zoro got to his knees, brushing the snow off of Chas's body and lifted her up to see if she was all right. She was breathing, but he noticed her arm had been severed, which was lying a few feet away. There was no blood, other than that of her cracked lips and the reopened wound on her leg from Reika Shima. It seemed that her arm was in the same predicament as the severed legs attached to Luffy at the moment.

"Oi, Manju!" Zoro said, shaking her. "Daifuku!" Chas didn't respond. "Chas!" Still nothing.

"SMOKER-SAN!"

Zoro looked up as Luffy looked back over his shoulder from his conversation with Law.

"Wha-Marines!" Luffy said, seeing Tashigi and the group of marines running towards them. "Could it be…?"

"Luffy, this is bad!" Usopp shouted. "It's the marines!"

Tashigi quickly ran over to Smoker, seeing her superior lying on the ground. She saw the hole in his chest, and saw he wasn't moving. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered what the marines had said earlier.

"How dare you!" Tashigi screamed as she charged at Law with her sword ready.

"How unrefined…" Law said, making a bubble. "I hate that." Soon, he had done the same thing he had done to Sanji, Chopper, Franky, and Nami, making Tashigi collapse to the ground too.

"What did he just do…?" Zoro mumbled, quickly picking up Chas, and her arm, and carrying her back to the others quickly.

"What happened to Chas-san?" Brook asked, helping the two up onto Brownbeard's back again.

"I don't know," Zoro said, quickly sticking Chas's arm in Usopp's bag, which Usopp freaked out about. He demanded Zoro to take it out and stick it somewhere else, but Zoro didn't listen. "She's freezing cold." Zoro quickly took off the wet jacket Chas had been wearing and tossed it aside, into the snow below.

"How's that going to help?!" Usopp shouted at Zoro.

Zoro ignored him and opened his own jacket. He then grabbed Chas and held her close, closing his jacket again when he was able to.

"Uh…" Brook and Usopp were speechless for a moment, before ignoring the fact that Zoro was holding Chas and went back to the fact the marines were there.

"Luffy, hurry, this place is bad news!" Usopp shouted, trying to get Luffy back over.

"Hey, Trafal-guy!" Luffy shouted, running back to the others, but looking back to see Law. "I want to ask you something!"

"Go to the back of the research facility," Law said, sheathing his sword and walking away before Luffy could ask something foolish, "you'll find what you're looking for there. We'll meet again."

Luffy stretched out his arm towards the others and they all grabbed it, pulling him onto Brownbeard's back.

"I wonder if Smokey and them will be okay," Luffy wondered, looking back to the fallen marines. "Looks like they lost to Trafal-guy."

"It seems Chas also lost," Robin said, looking to the unconscious girl in Zoro's arms and jacket. She was smiling a bit, at the sight, knowing the Zoro had finally understood what Chas meant to him, but was still not admitting to it.

"Teaspoon?" Luffy questioned, looking back over his shoulder. "Why's she hiding?"

"She's not hiding!" Usopp shouted, hitting Luffy. "She's unconscious and could possibly have frostbite! Metal, cold, and skin don't exactly mix!"

"She wasn't in the snow that long, from the looks," Zoro said, "but her arm was severed."

"You mean like Luffy's new legs?" Brook questioned. Zoro nodded.

Zoro looked down to Chas, brushing away some of her hair from her wet face and getting rid of the stuck snow. He then stared at her a bit, trying to see if she was moving, but when he saw she wasn't, he simply hugged her tighter. He placed his chin on top of her head, burying her face in his warm chest. _Damn her for making me worry so much…_ Zoro thought.

Robin giggled again, making Zoro glare at her this time. "Sorry, I just find it cute." She then snickered again, but Zoro ignored her and her teasing.

Soon enough everyone's attention was grabbed when Luffy began shouting again. "There they are! Oi, you guys!" Luffy continued waving his hands towards his friend in the distance.

"Is everyone okay?" Brook shouted, laughing joyously now that he found his missing comrades.

"It's Luffy and the rest!" 'Sanji' shouted, waving his hands around. "Zoro, Usopp, Robin, Brook! I'm so happy to see you guys!"

"What's with the stupid cook's high tension?" Zoro said, raising an eyebrow. "Even though it's really cold…"

"What's that?" Usopp said, seeing the giant children standing behind everyone. "It looks like giant kids!"

Luffy stopped waving for a moment, only to see Franky with a large fist over Nami. "Huh? Oi, what are you doing?! Stop it, Franky!"

It was too late, "Franky" had already brought his fist down on "Nami".


	53. Chapter 53

Everything had been turned to chaos. There was so much shouting coming from Nami, who was now Franky, and Chopper, who was now Sanji. Then there was the joyous shouting coming from the severed samurai head that had taken his legs back from Luffy, who was now in despair that his second pair of legs were gone. He was just getting to like the idea of being a centaur too.

"This is so surreal…" Robin said with a calm smile.

Zoro was silent, placing Chas on the ground and covering her with a warm jacket that samurai had popped up out of nowhere.

After getting an explanation that Franky was now Chopper; Chopper was now Sanji; Nami was now Franky; and Sanji was now Nami (which pleased the chef and two other comrades to an extent), the group began discussing what they were to do now after much more yelling.

"When are you going to stop laughing?!" Nami shouted at Luffy who was rolling on the ground from laughter. This continued for some time, even with the serious conversation

After hearing explanations about the "Samurai from Wano", as Usopp called him, and hearing about the emergency signal they had received, the group learned that the samurai had lost his son, Momonosuke, and was cut down by Law when looking for him. He believed that his son was still locked up in facility like the other children were. But the children said there was no one by that name.

"But the problem is after the signal, what happened there?" Zoro said, sitting down on a rock next to Chas's body (which Chopper was looking over at the moment).

"That man just now!" the samurai shouted. "The ones around him were yelling 'shichibukai' at him!"

"WHAT?!" Luffy shouted, standing to his feet. "Trafal-guy became a shichibukai?!"

"Yes, he joined in the past two years," Robin said with a smile.

The samurai ground his teeth together and said, furiously, "Before I knew it, my body was cut in three… My head was take to the facility, my torso left behind, and my legs almost became food to that…monster…" The samurai nodded towards Chas. "It's similar to that there woman's arm."

"So," Chopper said, "all we need to do is stick her arm back on and she'll be fine?"

"From what I understand," the samurai said, tilting his head, which almost toppled off his legs.

Chopper did as such and took Chas's arm, sticking it back on. But when he went to check to see if it was fixed it, it came right off again with a loud _POP!_, making Chopper scream and cry for breaking her.

"But it will take time…" the samurai said again before continuing his story. "Relying on my senses, I was trying to run away, but then it felt like I was stuck to something."

"That was on the Dragon's head!" Usopp said.

"That's right!" Luffy said, putting his hands on his hips. "He was saying something like, 'That damn shichibukai'."

"How come his lower half was talking?" Nami asked, crossing her arms.

"Now that you mention it…" Zoro mumbled, pondering the strange thought.

"Oh!" the samurai said. "Those were farts! That's my special skill!"

"GROSS!" everyone screamed.

"Indeed!"

Brook laughed, almost toppling over from delight. "But having legs and a head is kind of funny! Reminds me that I met a person who was just a torso before!" Brook continued laughing as the room went silent.

"That's definitely this guy's torso…" Zoro said, monotonously.

Brook stopped laughing. "You're right!" He finally grasped the idea.

* * *

On the other side, G-5's marines had created shelter in a cave. Tashigi and Smoker had seemed to switch places, just like the Straw Hats were facing with Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Franky.

Currently Tashigi was explaining how there were recent kidnappings of children around the seas, making everyone just now have a clue about it. Smoker scolded Tashigi for not telling him this, but Tashigi played it off, telling him to close up her shirt. Tashigi then went on to explain the incidents, but told everyone that by the time the papers were filed into G-5, everything had been played off as shipwrecks, pirate incidents, and missing person reports, which had been from jumped conclusions.

Smoker then goes onto say how he believed Tashigi thought those children back there with the four Straw Hat Pirates were part of these cases. He then goes onto saying how someone in G-5 was behind these incidents, but the officers around denied that anyone would do that.

"Why the hell would I waste my time suspecting idiots like you?!" Smoker shouted at his men. "Know this: As long as humans are the one running things, a perfect organization will never exist in this world! Getting carried away by your imaginations will let the enemy escape. Don't let appearances deceive you!"

"Yes, Ma'am, Captain-chan!" the marines shouted.

Smoker simply sighed, rubbing his face. "Just shut up, you guys…" He then lifted his head and looked around for any sign of Chas, but didn't see her. "Where's Bouzu?"

"Uh…" the marines said, all looking to each other. One soon stepped out, holding out the jacket Chas had been wearing with an arm cut off of it. "This is all we found of her…"

Smoker gripped the jacket in his hands.

"I think I saw the Straw Hats take her, Smoker-san," Tashigi said, playing with her hands.

"Good," Smoker said, "at least she's safe."

* * *

Back at the area with the Straw Hats, Usopp had made masks for those who had been switched, even with all the complaints from Sanji. Everyone else was rather grateful, except Nami who could care less.

After getting much information from Brownbeard, the Straw Hats realized that the man he called "Master" saved his, and his men's, lives. Later Law came into the picture and supplied new legs for all of the crew.

"See?" Luffy said with a confident snicker. "Traffy's a good guy after all!"

"If he's such a good guy, why'd he slice off Chas-san's arm?" Brook questioned. Luffy simply shrugged.

"The centaurs and the bird-woman…" Usopp said, having his hands on his hips. "Now I get it…but wait a sec. What about the dragon?"

"Oh," Brownbeard said, "so you saw the dragon? That's a man-made creature that vegapunk originally created to guard this island. It could adapt to any environment. I think…the celestial dragons liked it and gave it some kind of name…but I forgot what it was." Brownbeard shook his head. "Anyway, if you see it, just…uh…run. It's pretty violent."

"OK," Zoro said. Usopp looked to Zoro, shocked at the swordsman for not saying, "We ate it already." Even though he was thinking it.

After a few minutes of entertaining the children, and figuring out what should happen next. Sanji learned from Brook that the samurai had left to go look for his torso. Sanji felt a bit responsible for the samurai, saying as he was the one that brought him out of the cell. Thus, he and Brook left after getting the go ahead from Luffy (who wasn't really paying attention to their conversation in the first place).

"Wait a minute!" Nami shouted angrily. She knew that if Sanji was alone with her body things could go haywire, and she didn't want that at all. So, she looked to Zoro and said, "Zoro, you go too! If you're with them then Sanji will stay in his fighting mode!"

"Fine…" Zoro said, getting up from his rock. He had been watching over Chas for the past few minutes, trying to get any sign of her waking up. But she never moved and her arm was far from being repaired still. "Just…keep an eye on her."

"No need to worry," Robin said, smiling with a lighthearted giggle, "nothing will happen to her, you can rest easy."

Zoro rolled his eyes and quickly went after Sanji and Brook, his mind not wondering from Chas one bit. That was until he and Sanji began getting into an argument about how Zoro had to come along whether he wanted to or not.

"All right, let's think about what to do from here on out," Usopp said, looking to the others.

"You need to turn us back to normal!" Nami said. "I'm sick of being a pervert!"

"Hey now!" Franky said, laughing. "What are you trying to do, compliment me to death?"

Robin's face turned dark. "I never want to see that expression coming from Chopper's face again..."

Franky didn't listen. "The problem is those kids. Taking care of them is gonna be a pain in the ass."

"Franky," Robin scolded, "can you just not speak while you're in that body? Never. Again."

"We also have a problem with Chas," Nami said, looking back to Chas's unmoving body. "With her like this, we're going to have to lug her around with us until she wakes up."

Chopper quickly looked over the test-tube and chemistry set he had been using to analyze the drug used to make the children large. But pretty soon, he was taken from his work when one of the children collapsed, groaning in pain.

"Shindo, what's wrong?" one of the children asked him.

Soon, all the large children began falling, complaining about their heads hurting or some other part of their body.

"Oi, Chopper!" Luffy shouted. "Fix him!"

Chopper did nothing.

"You just checked them out, didn't you, Chopper?!" Nami asked franticly. "Were they really sick?"

"No…" Chopper said. He soon ran over to Shindo, the first to collapse, and began asking questions. Shindo told Chopper that around that time they would be getting a checkup and soon get candy afterwards. That's when Chopper realized what was going on. He then turned angry and suddenly stormed over to Brownbeard, demanding answers on everything he knew about the children.

Brownbeard knew nothing of the incident and blamed it on the children being out of the lab, but Chopper knew that wasn't the case.

"NHC10 was found in their bodies!" Chopper said, angrily. "It's a stimulant drug! Only chosen doctors in chosen countries are allowed to use this! I know about it because the doctrine also used it. Even if it's used for treatment, like it's meant to be, it is never used in extreme doses where it can become addictive!" After his speech, Chopper went over the edge: shouting and questioning Brownbeard about this 'Master' he's been talking about.

On the other hand, the children were beginning to get out of hand and Luffy didn't know what to do. Luffy had the idea to go get more candy, but Chopper told him not to, and so Luffy listened. When Shindo found out, he got angry and slapped Luffy away, sending him into the ice covered wall.

Shindo went on a rampage, breaking things around the area and knocking things out of his way. Luckily, Robin had kept Chas safe with her many hands.

The other children begged him to stop, but he didn't. At that moment, the children explained that none of them were large to begin with.

"Can I fight him?!" Luffy questioned, thinking of the only way to stop Shindo from breaking everything in sight.

"No, Luffy, out of the way!" Usopp said, getting his slingshot ready.

"Don't hurt them!" Nami shouted.

"I know that, Idiot!" Usopp shouted again. "Hissatsu! Bakushuiboshi!" Soon he fired his sling and made smoke appear at the children's feet. The children were knocked out.

"How's Teaspoon?" Luffy asked, rushing over to Robin.

"She should be fine," Robin said. "I managed to keep her safe."

"Luffy," Chopper said, walking up to Luffy. Luffy turned around and looked to Chopper. "I want to help these children! I want to take them back to their homes!"

"Then we'll just have to take each and every one of them back to their parents…" Luffy said, climbing onto of Shindo's sleeping figure.

"Easier said than done!" Franky said. "There are tons of problems preventing us from doing that!"

"Yes," Robin said, walking over and leaving Chas to Chopper as he stitched up Chas's leg again (the stiches that the marines did broke from her fight with Law), "and this is all just a hypothesis… We won't be certain of anything unless we check on the 'source'!"

"That master guy?" Luffy questioned. He scratched his head and thought for a moment. "But right now Zoro, Sanji, and Brook went to go look for the samurai. And Teaspoon is still knocked out." Luffy sighed. "Well, we'll just have to go to the lab without them. Let's go see that master guy!"

"I'll wait here!" Chopper said. "There's no way I can forgive that master guy. I really want to kick his ass, but I'm worried about the children and Chas. I have to tend to them!"

"Yeah, I'll stay too!" Nami said, raising her hand.

"That's not fair!" Usopp shouted. "You're just scared!"

"What about the body switch problem?" Franky questioned, crossing his chubby arms. "All four of us have to go at the same time and see Trafalgar or else we won't get back to normal."

"What's the big problem?" Luffy laughed. "Just stay the way you are now!"

"What's the big deal?!" Nami shouted. "Make us priority for once dammit!"


	54. Chapter 54

After Luffy and the others left, Chopper and Nami began tending to the children and Chas, until their work was stalled by loud bangs and shaking of their hideout in the mountain. The two freaked out and all the shouting woke up Brownbeard who then began telling them stories about the some monster that hides in the snow. He said he couldn't remember what their names were, but Nami called B.S. on it. That's when something came out of the shadows and pointed a large gun at Brownbeard, saying how he was on their kill list too.

Brownbeard was next shot dead and Nami and Chopper were left horrified as the figure, which had become two now, left.

"You better not have laid a finger on my crew!" Luffy shouted as he and the others came running back. They had the feeling something was going wrong.

"So you're Strawhat?" one of the large figures questioned. Soon they both pointed their riffles at Luffy, Usopp, Robin, and Franky, then fired.

Luffy dodged and popped out of the large smoke, ready to kick their asses. But he soon saw the figures were gone.

"LUFFY!" Chopper cried, running out of the cave towards Luffy who had fallen into the snow. "I'm sorry, but they took Franky! Uh…Nami I mean…"

"What?!" Luffy shouted, popping out of the snow.

After finding out that Brownbeard was defeated and that the two figures had come to kill them, Luffy decided to go out and get Nami. Soon, Franky himself told Luffy he was coming with, demanding Chopper to give him his Rumble Balls used for transformation. Chopper then went onto explain how to use the one he gave Franky for use, but Franky could have cared less and used it already. This made him attack Luffy as they left to get Nami, in Franky's body, back.

* * *

About an hour passed before Luffy had returned with Nami, and company. Law had come back with him and Luffy had declared that he and Law had made an alliance, which everyone objected to. Robin even made a point to say that Law might betray Luffy if given a chance, but when asked, Law said he wouldn't.

After switching Franky, Chopper, and Nami around so Franky was back in his body and Chopper was back in his. Sadly Nami had to stay in Sanji's body for the time being since her body was still gone.

Nami then went onto explain that they were going to save the children and Law told them what was really happening there on the island, or what he believed was happening there. He said that saving the children was no part of the agreement, but after Luffy's small speech and how Nami said she won't leave until the children were safe, Law agreed to help.

For a moment, everyone had stopped their fighting and turned around to see Chas was beginning to wake up.

"Teaspoon!" Luffy shouted, quickly running over to Chas with the others.

"Strawhat?" Chas grumbled, rubbing her eyes to see everyone looking over her, even Law's face was in the picture. "YOU!" Chas quickly jumped to her feet, gripping Law by his collar and pushing him into the frozen rubble, ready to punch him at any given moment. "What are you doin' here?!"

"Calm down, Chas," Nami said, placing a hand on Chas's shoulder, "you shouldn't be moving around in your condition."

"I'm not lettin' go until he answers my question!" Chas screamed. "How dare ya show yer face to after what ya did?! Now, where is it?!"

"Where's what, Chasaji?" Law asked with a straight face.

"Ya know what I'm talking about, Law!" Chas shouted. "Don't play yer stupid games an' test my patience!"

"Wait a minute, he's not the bad guy, Teaspoon!" Luffy said, pulling Chas off of Law. Chas still tried hitting Law, but Luffy kept her from doing so. "Traffy is a friend!"

"Friend?" Law said. "We made an alliance, I'm not a friend."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Luffy's idea of an 'alliance' differs from yours," Usopp said. "If you intend to take the initiative here, you've got another thing coming. Once he gets an idea in his head, no matter how random, he won't budge! You have yet to see how nasty he can really get. He's pretty much four emperor-class when it comes to selfishness!"

"Sounds like someone else I know," Law mumbled, looking to Chas.

"Put a sock in it, Law," Chas growled, trying to punch him again, that was until her arm popped off again and hit Law in the face. This made Chas feel a bit better about the situation. "Wait a minute, what's this about an alliance?"

"Trafalgar and Luffy have made an alliance together," Robin said, silently thinking that there was something going on between Law and Chas. The two were too familiar with each other, which raised the question: What is their relation? Whatever it was, Robin knew Zoro wasn't going to like it when he got back.

"No," Chas said, shaking her head, "I don't agree to that."

"We've already disagreed on it," Franky said, shrugging, "but there's nothing that's going to change his mind."

"So, we're teamin' up with the bad guy?!" Chas shouted, picking up her arm and reattached it. Soon her arm reattached like it had never been severed, which meant it was finally put on properly.

"Like Luffy said: He's not the bad guy," Nami said. "Caesar is behind everything!"

"We don't have time for explanations!" Law cut in, making Chas glare at him. "I'll check out the drugs that were administered to the children. Which one of you is the doctor? Come with me. We're going to need to keep Caesar busy somehow."

Pretty soon, Chopper was strapped to Law's head, making everyone laugh hysterically. Chas even laughed and said, "Pay backs a bitch, isn't it, Law?"

Law simple glared at her as he took Chopper off of his head and stuffed him into a bag.

"As you saw from the two assassins just now," Law said after hanging Chopper off of his sword, "Caesar plans to erase your crew and the White Hunter's G-5, and then take back the children."

"Wait," Chas cut in, surprised, "Ojiki's still alive?"

"Of course," Law said, "him and his men are." Law smiled a bit, teasing Chas. "You really thought I killed him?"

Chas turned away, scoffing as she crossed her arms, ignoring the man.

"Caesar used to be a government scientist who became a criminal after the incident four years ago," Law continued. "If the truth that someone's living on this off-limits island gets out, he'll lose his convenient little hideout here. He'll come to kill you will all he's got. He has a bounty of 300,000,000 beri"-everyone's eyes widened-"he owns mass murder weapons"-Chas chuckled sadistically-"he's also a logia who ate the gas-gas fruit. Anyone who can't use Haki cannot go near him. He's not an average scientist."

"The only ones here who can use Haki are me, Zoro, Sanji, Teaspoon…and you," Luffy said.

"That'll be enough," Law said with a small smile.


	55. Chapter 55

After leaving, Chas went along with Luffy, Franky, and Robin who went to go get the 'Master'. At first when the four landed, they were in the middle of an all-out war at the front door of the facility.

"Get out here master!" Luffy shouted, cheerfully. "I'm gonna beat you up _and_ kidnap you!"

"Luffy," Robin said, "that's supposed to be a secret."

"Idiots…" Chas mumbled, looking at all the G-5 marines and other people who didn't look as familiar.

The not so familiar people came charging and Franky quickly sent an attack there way, shocking the marines around watching.

"Where's 'M'?" Luffy questioned. "There's no way he's outside!"

"Let's go inside the laboratory then," Robin suggested.

Chas looked around and soon noticed the bulky man she was looking for. "OJIKI!" Chas was crying tears of joy at seeing her uncle all right. But there was something off about him.

"Straw Hat Luffy!" Smoker said, only noticing Luffy. "What are you planning to do here?!"

"Oh, Smoker!" Luffy said, smiling just like Chas was. "You're safe! You seemed to have been defeated so I was worried!"

"Don't make a fool of me!" Soon Smoker sent his arm, which held with what looked like Tashigi's sword in hand, and made it go towards Luffy.

Luffy moved his head to the side, dodging the attack. He grabbed Smoker's smoky arm and soon had Smoker pin on the ground.

"What's wrong, Smoker?" Luffy asked, quite puzzled at how weak he seemed. "You've gotten weaker from the last time we saw you!"

"N-No," Smoker said, "I-I'm not…"

"Luffy move!" Chas shouted before Luffy could get hit with the Jutte Smoker usually used but now Tashigi was using. That's when Chas knew Smoker was in Tashigi's body and Tashigi was in Smoker's body.

"Give me a break…" Smoker said. He raised his Jutte again and was about to send it at Luffy, but he was stopped when Chas suddenly hugged him, crying tears of joy.

"OJIKI!" she wailed. "I'm so glad you're alive!"

"What?" Luffy said, tilting his head in confusion.

"Luffy, it's probably Law's doing!" Robin said.

"Eh?" Luffy smiled when he finally understood. "OH! Substitution! No wonder that one is weaker than this one!

"Get off me, Bouzu!" Smoker shouted, trying to get Chas off of him. But she continued crying her eyes out. He didn't know why she was being so chummy, but it was annoying him to see her acting so weak.

"OI!" Franky shouted, laughing. "I broke the door! Let's go!"

"Wow, quick work, Franky!" Luffy said, forgetting about Smoker and running towards the door with Chas being dragged behind him.

"What is that?!" the marines shouted, all pointing to the ship in the water.

Everyone stopped moving and looked to the ship sailing towards them with goo on its sails.

"Wait!" Robin shouted.

Soon, the goo began joining together to form a large blob.

"It's poisonous gas!" Chas shouted.

A few marines tried burning the gas, knowing that was its weakness. But when they sent a flame thrower at it, it blew up. They all thought they won, but were wrong when it suddenly began regenerating behind a centaur nearby. Pretty soon, it began falling from the sky, shocking everyone.

"Smoker-san!" Tashigi shouted at Smoker. "It's dangerous, please go somewhere with ceilings!"

"Yes…" Smoker said, but he didn't move, noticing something out in the distance.

"Good Boy," a voice said, "sorry for locking you up for three years…"

Soon, laughter rang out and everyone looked up to see a man standing on the broken ship. "Master!"

"I knew it!" Smoker said, preparing to fight. "You're Caesar Crown, am I right?!"

"You're the master?!" Luffy said, shocked as he pointed to the clown on the ship.

"I thought we decided that earlier…" Chas mumbled to herself as Caesar told Luffy he was correct.

"Wait a little more," Caesar laughed with the creepiest smile Chas had ever seen. "They're weak in water so to go across the sea they are a bit by bit flying their 'pieces'!" Caesar then laughed even more. "From the land of fire to this land of ice! When all the pieces of slime arrive here you will experience that this four years ago…"

Chas felt a breeze rush past her and when she was able to open her eyes again she saw Luffy attacking Caesar. "Are you stupid?!"

"I got you!" Luffy shouted, managing to get the jump on Caesar.

* * *

_At the Central Lake:_

"That monster's name should be 'slime'…" Brook said, his mouth wide open in awe of the giant thing of…slime in front of him. "If I remember correctly, I read about it in a book! The slime is…" Brook's cheeks turned red at his perverted fantasy, and Sanji and the samurai immediately fell into listen. "The slime is that shameless monster that prefers to attack women and melts their clothes with a liquid it is composed of!"

"What?!" Sanji said, looking fascinated. "I can make good use of that monster! N-Next time lend me that book!"

"Me too!" the samurai with only a head and legs said.

Zoro couldn't believe he got paired with such perverted idiots. "Look, you damn idiots…" Zoro stuffed his hands in his pockets as he saw the lake slowly fill with the slime. "I don't care about clothes, but if we come in contact with it we will be done for sure. The fish in the lake are dying because of the liquid that fell into it."

"It's like that's a lump of toxins…" Brook said.

"Toxins?!" Sanji gasped. "This is bad! If we leave it alone, it will poison the whole lake!"

Soon, Sanji had stripped, taking off the coat he had been covering Nami's body with off and saying he would go in and fetch the samurai's torso.

"A-Are you really going, Sanji-san?!" Brook said, shocked.

"You can bet on it!" Sanji said. "A man like me has no other choice but to go!" He then silently mumbled to himself. "Sorry, Nami-san." Then dived into the water.

"Be careful!" Brook shouted.

Soon, Zoro, Brook, and the samurai were cornered towards the water by small blobs of slime, which Zoro didn't seem to give much thought for. For a moment though, he wondered if Chas and the others were all right. He wondered if she had regained consciousness yet, or if her arm was back to normal.

_Stop worrying…_ Zoro told himself, knowing that thinking it over wasn't like him. _She's safe with Luffy and the others…_ Zoro then drew his swords and helped Brook fend off the slime, trying not to give anymore thought onto the idea that Chas was unable to protect herself.

* * *

"Let me go!" Caesar shouted.

"Gomu Gomu no Bell!" Luffy brought his stretched out neck and head towards Caesar, knocking against the gas he had created.

Caesar was angered. He quickly turned back around, shouting, "Gas Robe!" But it hardly did anything to Luffy, who sucked it up confidently.

"Is he an idiot?!" Chas shouted. Soon she was in more shock, just like everyone, when Luffy blew the gas out of his ears and smiled.

"Poisons don't work on me that much," Luffy said with a cough. "Thanks to what happened with Magellan!"

"Magellan?" Caesar said, face getting distorted from rage. "The poison man from Impel Down? Don't put me on the same level of a 'Paramecia'!"

"Jet mace!" Luffy quickly said, sending the attack straight into Caesar's face.

Caesar was sent crashing into the ground, making all the men who were on his side shout in anger at Luffy. But Caesar told them not to get in his way.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy began, but wasn't able to finish when Caesar sent an attack right into Luffy's mouth.

"Gas tank!" Caesar said, laughing.

"Luffy!" Robin shouted, seeing her Captain injured.

"Slimes!" Caesar ordered, looking to the blobs. "Coil around the Straw Hat!"

"That's dangerous Luffy!" Franky franticly shouted. "They can cause a huge explosion!"

Caesar laughed, confidently as he shouted, "Vanish! Gas Tank!" making a huge explosion in the sky, lighting it like a firework.

Everyone stood and watched, shocked at the power of the attack. Even Chas couldn't believe it, especially when the force began sending her sliding across the ground. But, luckily, Smoker had placed a hand behind his niece's back, keeping her steady as he looked at the explosion calmly.

When the explosion cleared, Luffy was gone, making Caesar laugh joyously.

"Now that was dangerous."

Caesar turned around to see Luffy there, laughing as he scratched his head. It was as if nothing fazed the boy.

"Jet stamp!" Luffy quickly shouted with a smile.

"Wow…" Chas said, surprised to see Luffy's potential. He was fast, let alone strong.

"Good, now I got ya!" Luffy said, grabbing Caesar. He looked over his shoulder, smiling happily. "Robin! Franky! Teaspoon! We can't bring this guy with us! Even if we tie him up, he'll get away!"

"And with a barrel?" Franky questioned.

Chas silently smirked at the idea. That was just part of her sadistic nature.

"Hey, hey!" a marine shouted. "Stop, Strawhat! We of G-5 will seize him and you as well!"

"Smoker-san," another said, looking to Smoker, "the Straw Hat defeated Caesar."

Smoker didn't say anything, let alone let his eyes leave Luffy. That's when he saw something wrong. Luffy let go of Caesar and started stumbling.

"Strawhat?" Chas questioned, narrowing her eyes.

Soon, Luffy collapsed and Caesar was left free, and laughing. "It seems like you underestimated me!"

"What happened?!" Franky said.

"Luffy!" Robin shouted.

"Strawhat!" Chas said, beginning to run over to her captain, but Robin kept her back.

Soon, before anyone knew what had happened, let alone saw anything, everyone had been defeated: Luffy, Chas, Robin, Franky, Tashigi, and Smoker. The only one left standing were the weak marines and Caesar.

Back at the center of the lake, Zoro and Brook were facing problems with the slime.

"I-It's poisonous gas!" Brook shouted, frantic as he watched the one he just sliced multiply. "If you cut it, more gas comes out! Ah! My eyes, my eyes!" Soon Brook stopped his shouting for a moment. "Oh, wait, I don't even have eyes." He soon looked to Zoro, still frantic. "What should we do, Zoro-san?!"

"I'm going to test something out!" Zoro said, arms crossed but face reading he was dead serious. "Watch carefully!

"But, Zoro-san, you usually have bad luck," Brook said, laughing half-heartedly.

Zoro thought for a moment. "Right…" He soon looked at Brook, serious again. "The enemy is jelly. You, try to eat a bite."

Brook was furious. "I don't want to! Could you please stop bullying me like a kid already?! I'm, like, seventy years older than you!"

The conversation between the two men was interrupted when the samurai began screaming.

"What's going on?!" Brook and Zoro shouted.

"OW!" the samurai screamed, throwing up blood.

Soon, Sanji was seen jumping out of the water.

"SANJI-SAN!" Brook said, crying with joy.

"We've been waiting for you," Zoro said with a small laugh as his cheeks turned red from the cold.

Soon, the samurai's body was back together, which shocked everyone to see he was as tall as Brook.

"Thy name is Kinemon!" the samurai said, standing straight with a serious look. He soon looked to Sanji, who was huddling in a warm jacket. "The eyebrows fellow! What is thy name?"

"I'm Sanji," he answered between breaths. "'Thy' my ass. As soon as I'm up here again I had to deal with this crap!" Sanji stood to his feet, angry and pointing to Kinemon. "You're a useless old man who's spattin' crap at me! I'm not gonna forget all the foul language you've used all these times!"

"I shall not forget!" Kinemon said, bowing. "Never…!" He soon dropped to his knees, bowing humbling to Sanji. "You have blessed me! I shall never forget this moment! I am in debt to you! Since I have returned. You people have always doubted me. I wish for you to forgive me!"

"Quit it already!" Sanji screamed, joking the samurai. "Raise your head! As a man, don't be so quick to go kneelin' on the ground!"

"However if I had not done so, you would have…"

"Sanji-san," Brook interrupted, with a large smile, "you seem to be a bit confused. It seems like we are in a life-threatening situation." Brook and the others looked around, forgetting about the arguing for the time being. "We have run out of places to run to."

"OI!" Sanji shouted at Brook and Zoro. "Can't you guys do something about this?!"

"There's nothing we can do," Zoro answered, finger up his nose.

"That's true," Brook said, with a finger up his nose too.

"Don't falter you idiots!" Sanji shouted angrily.

"Perhaps we should try to give it a burn," the samurai said, pulling out his sword. "I am called 'Kitsunebi of Kinemon'. My sword if one that strikes the enemy down with flames. We will escape with a path of flames!"

"That's a great idea!" Brook said, laughing joyously.

As the samurai slashed the slime with his sword, Zoro watched with great solemnity as Sanji watched with great shock when the slime all erupted into a grand explosion. Soon, even Zoro's face showed shock when the slime was out of sight.

"I have opened a path, let's take our leave," Kinemon said. "Well then, I must go save Momonosuke at the research center."

"Wait!" Zoro shouted.

Everyone turned around. Zoro smiled assertively as he said, "I've become quite interested in samurai combat. I'll come with you to rescue your son!"

"WHAT?!"


	56. Chapter 56

_Back in Caesar's Lab:_

"Oi, Vergo!" Smoker shouted from the cage where he was chained up with Tashigi, Luffy, Law, Robin, Franky (who was asleep), and his own niece next to him. "All the people outside are G-5 marines! _Your_ subordinates!"

"Ah, you're right," Vergo said, eating the rest of the hamburger that was found on his face. "However, seeing all these people in the same cell, it's really quite a catch… What a fine view…"

"It really brings back memories being in the same cell as you," Robin said, smiling to Luffy.

"Oh yeah!" Luffy said, laughing, which annoyed Law a bit from on left. "You caught Smokey and me back in Alabasta!"

"Ya got caught?" Chas giggled from beside Law and Robin, looking to her uncle. "I thought it was yer motto not to get caught by pirates, Ojiki."

"Shut up you idiots!" Smoker shouted.

"Smoker-san, I…" Tashigi began, lying on the ground in front of Smoker's feet. "What can I do about this feeling?" Tashigi then groaned, not feeling very well from the looks.

"Your premonition struck the mark in the worst possible way, Tashigi," Smoker said, scowling. "In other words, the kidnapping case where Caesar took away all the children was changed into a 'shipwreck' by his hand. To think the leader of the base was the ringleader of the entire crime…"

"In a way it fits with G-5," Chas said. "But I think this might ruin yer reputation, Ojiki."

"It's understandable that you didn't notice," Law said. "Vergo didn't really betray the marines themselves. He used to be a pirate before he got famous. He entered the marines under Joker's orders."

"Joker?" Chas questioned with a sense of shock in her voice, turning to look at Law.

Law nodded. "Vergo spent fifteen years climbing the ranks. To Joker, he's the most convenient, trustworthy, marine that could ever exist."

"He's been one of Joker's men from the start…" Chas said, sighing with a small curse under her breath. "I knew there was somethin' I never liked about him…"

"Joker, the man of the underworld broker, was it?" Smoker said, frowning. "I'm such a fool…the mole was this close to me…but I couldn't even pick up his stench!"

"Unlike me…" Chas mumbled, with a pout. She disliked Vergo from the start, ever since they met when she was little. Something always felt wrong about him, and now she knew.

"Don't get so pessimistic…" Vergo said. "You should be complimenting this mole for eluding even the eyes of the great 'White Hunter', Smoker-san." Vergo took a step closer to the cage. "Ever since the day you transferred here from HQ, I've been exercising maximum precautions. Thinking that I'll be free from that stress from this day forward makes me very happy." There was no smile on the man's face. "My true identity is something that no one can know about. Do you know what's going to happen to you now? You, Vice-Admiral Smoker and Captain Tashigi, will die here. Your lips will be sealed and I'll give your underlings in the front to Caesar." There was a small scoff. "What? Don't worry, I'll make sure it's processed as an 'accident' as always." He smiled. "Or I can say Shotgun Chasaji betrayed her only living family member and his Captain."

"Shut up!" Chas shouted, angrily.

"Oi, Traffy," Luffy said, looking to Law, "who's this Joker guy everyone's mentioning?"

Law was silent for a moment, his eyebrows seeming to meet in the middle every time he thought about it. "I also used to be one of his underlings…" Luffy blinked, shocked. "That's how I know of Vergo."

"Joker is just the name he uses in the underworld brokering," Chas said, shifting around in her spot so she was sitting up. "He's a world famous-pirate, though…"

"And one of the shichibukai…" Law said.

Soon, the two said the same thing together, both knowing of the creepy, over dressed, man. "Donquixote Doflamingo."

* * *

After a while, Caesar came flaunting into the room, walking towards Vergo and the bird woman, Monet, laughing.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Vergo," he said.

"It's fine," Vergo said as monotonously as ever. "I had some cookies and coffee…" Vergo looked to the empty table in front of him. "That's strange…where did the cookies go?"

"You never had any cookies," Monet said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, I didn't have cookies. When is the experiment going to begin, Caesar?"

"Soon…" Caesar said. "Monet! Turn on the video!"

"Yes sir," she said, bowing and flying over to the computer.

"I wish you'd at least stop your subordinates from coming here, though, Vergo," Caesar said, floating over to the cage. "I really broke a sweat when I saw that Smoker had come here."

"Yeah," Vergo said, drinking his coffee. "He's a 'wild dog'… I can't control him."

Chas chuckled and was soon scolded for finding the words Vergo used amusing. She then stuck her tongue at Smoker.

"But that all ends today!" Caesar cheered. He looked to the cage, looking to Law who frowned deeply and glared. "The same goes for you, Law." Caesar laughed. "You couldn't lift a finger or a toe against Vergo, could you?! Looks like the 'pact' I made with you came in handy after all."

"Law, what is he talking about?" Chas whispered. She looked to Law, seeing him looking to his lap.

"People aren't to be trusted after all," Caesar continued. "You reap what you sow! I'm sure you felt it, but just to clarify"-Vergo walked up behind Caesar, holding a box in-between his thumb and fingers-"Vergo is the one who's got your heart."

Vergo squeezed the box, making Law scream in pure agony, which made the others look at him, worried.

"Not even you noticed, eh?" Caesar said with a laugh. "Monet was considerate enough to transform and follow you. I heard the whole thing! I'm really disappointed, Law…just when I thought we had become good friends."

Law sat up, chuckling in-between breaths. "Your excellent secretary saved you. She's the one I should have been wary of. You see, her 'master' was just an idiot. I had underestimated her."

"Just like with every other pretty woman, eh, Law?" Chas said, smirking.

"Shut your mouth you brat!" Caesar shouted, gripping Law's heart.

Law screamed more, his chest feeling like it had been pierced by many, many, swords. But it soon stopped, for a moment anyway, letting him lean against Chas to catch his breath. Of course, Chas didn't feel very comfortable with him leaning against her.

"Woah!" Luffy said, shocked to see Law in such pain. "He's got your heart, but you're still alive?!"

"If someone abuses your ability like that, it's hopeless," Smoker said, snarling at Law. "Where's mine then?"

"Right here!" Caesar sang, flaunting the heart in front of the cage.

"The video had been prepared, Master," Monet said, interrupting Caesar's maniacal laugh.

"Good! Turn it on!"

Soon, the snail on the table showed a picture of a giant candy in the middle of the snow. Chas saw no point in listening, so she ignored everything said by Caesar from then on. She did hear something about 'slime', 'four years ago', and 'Land of Death'. When Chas looked up again, a giant slime monster had eaten the giant candy, which pleased Caesar.

"Look at the huge frog!" Luffy said, watching the video intently.

Chas soon saw the monster fade and turn into smoke, or gas. Chas, once again, lost interest, until she heard Luffy shout: "Hey, look! It's Zoro's gang! The smoke's chasing them!"

Chas immediately looked up and saw Luffy was right. Brook, Zoro, some samurai dude, and Nami (or what looked like Nami who was actually Sanji) were running away from the smoke. It was closing in on them, and Chas suddenly felt her chest tighten.

"Oh…" Robin said, smiling a bit. "They got Mr. Samurai back together."

"You're right!" Luffy said. "Guess he won't be giving me his legs then… Wait, Robin, now's not the time for that!" Luffy soon began shouting out, trying to let his voice reach the video, but he was soon out of energy from the Kairoseki chains around him.

"Friends of yours?" Caesar chuckled. "Your friends really are tough! But eventually they'll run out of breath and the gas will get them! And finally it will spread out to create a land of death! The Land of Death! Not a single soul who isn't inside this laboratory will survive!" Caesar then began laughing loudly, until Chas cut him off.

"That's where yer wrong!" Chas shouted, tears in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to believe there was a chance the others could die like that, especially Zoro. There was no way in hell he would allow that. There was no way she would allow it. "They won't get caught by that damn gas of yours!"

Law and the others looked to Chas, seeing her fully confident in her words. Law and Smoker, on the other hand, noticed how loving her words were when speaking. This made both men irritated.

"That stupid Marimo won't get caught!" Chas shouted angrily. "He'll get away with the others an' then he'll come here and save all our asses!" Chas smirked. "Then we'll kick yer ass as compensation!"

"Not if you're dead with them," Caesar chuckled.

The cage began getting tilted back, making everyone panic, even Chopper who had been watching the whole time. But Chopper was stopped from doing anything.

The cage was soon hanging outside, over all the marines who were shouting about it being the end and everything. Which seemed like a likely conclusion, saying as the gas was fast approaching them.


	57. Chapter 57

"Counterattack?" Luffy questioned, looking to Law.

"Yeah," Law said, "let's clean this up once and for all!"

"Well," Chas said, sighing as she watched the gas slowly come closer, "whatever your plan is, Law, spit it out already."

Law ignored Chas and continued talking like she hadn't said anything in the first place. "Among us here, does anyone have the ability to set things on fire?" Chas opened her mouth to shout at him for being stupid, until he spoke up again, popping her bubble of being hero. "With those chains you wouldn't be able to do much, Chasaji. Plus your fire only goes so far." Law looked at her. "As I've learned."

"Shut yer mouth, Law!" Chas shouted, fuming.

"If it's fire then Franky can!" Luffy said with a smile. "He can shoot beams too!" Luffy looked to Franky with an expecting smile. "You can just shoot your beams and burn the locks!"

"Sorry," Franky said, shrugging, "but my radical beam requires the use of both arms. All I can managed right now is a coup de poo with my ass!"

"Gross…" Chas mumbled, wincing a bit when she suddenly felt like being sick.

"Can you set the ship on the bottom right on fire?" Law asked, looking to Franky.

"That's no problem for me, Bro!" Franky said, smirking. Soon he went serious. "But first I'd like to know-"

"What the hell is your relationship with my niece, Trafalgar?" Smoker cut in, grinding his teeth together.

"I've been pondering over that question as well," Robin said, smiling.

Chas and Law grumbled, Law saying something about this not being the time and Chas saying something along the lines of "I wish this never happened in the first place". But both parties soon settled and answered the question with much reluctant.

"We dated at one point, okay?!" Chas shouted, 'embarrassment' written all over her face. "It was a long time ago and I've regretted it since!"

"Really?" Law said, looking to her. "I don't remember it being that way. If I remember correctly you said-"

"SHUT IT!" Chas said, her face turning red.

"I'm going to kill you once I get out of these chains, Trafalgar…" Smoker snarled, definite anger reading all across his face.

"Wait…" Luffy said, looking confused. "What do you mean by 'dated'?"

"I'm sure she means that she-"

Before Robin could continue with her 'Relationships 101' lesson to Luffy, Chas cut everyone off. "Can we just get off the subject already? We have a poisonous gas heading straight for us and the others, and we're sitting here talking about my past relationship with Law? Can we please just get the hell out of here?!"

"Ah, right," Franky said. "FRA~~~NKY"-Franky snorted and soon spit out a ball of flame down towards the ship Law had mentioned earlier-"FIRE BALL!"

Soon enough, the smoke from the burning ship had risen, but to everyone's displeasure it had covered the entire crate, making it difficult to breath.

"Oi, Trafalgar!" Franky said, coughing just as hard as the others. "The smoke's coming all the way up here!"

"You're the one that set it on fire," Law said calmly.

"Yer the one that told him to!" Chas shouted at Law, making Luffy laugh in amusement.

"What are we up to?" Luffy soon asked.

"Well then…" Law said, the sound of chains falling to the ground. He soon sat up, free from his bondages, shocking everyone, except for a few. "With all this smoke, the video Den Den Mushi won't reveal us freeing ourselves. We'll be able to get away without anyone noticing right away."

"How'd you manage to take off the Kairoseki handcuffs?!" Luffy asked, desperate for an answer.

"It's no big deal," Law said, making his sword appear out of thin air, "from the start they were just normal handcuffs. How long do you think I've been hanging around this place?" Law pulled out his blade and cut the bindings of Franky, Robin, Chas, and Luffy next to him. "I've prepared several normal handcuffs that I would be able to switch with, just in case I ever got captured. That way I could just pretend to be captured with Kairoseki and escape on my own accord. Now, what should we do with you two…?" Law looked to Smoker and Tashigi, flipping his fingers in front of himself. "You know a bit too much. Your lives are up for me to decide."

"Just hurry up and decide!" Smoker shouted, not realizing he was back in his own body, just like Tashigi was back in her's. "You should-" That's when Smoker realized it was his own voice speaking.

Tashigi soon realized the same thing and screamed, pulling her legs to cover her chest. She could save herself from further embarrassment, even if it's just a little.

"The hell are you doing, screaming out like a little girl?" Smoker said, looking to the poor girl who was cowering on the floor.

"Please, just hurry up and take off these cuffs!" Tashigi said, crying. "I'll do anything you tell me to…"

"Don't mess with me!" Smoker shouted, angrily. "Are you that desperate to cling onto your life that you'd depend on pirates?!"

"At this point, even if we have to kneel down and beg, we need to survive!" Tashigi shouted right back, shocking Smoker. "If we died here, then our subordinates will all be massacred! And there's also Vergo…if we let Vergo continue to stay in the marines, then even more children will…"

"She has a point…" Chas said with a smirk. Smoker simple snarled at her to shut up, but it just made Chas chuckle.

"It seems that the girl understands the situation better than you do, White Hunter," Law said. "I have no obligation to you, but if you manage to return alive and Vergo loses his current position, then it's advantageous to me. But I'll have you forget _everything_ concerning Joker." Law narrowed his eyes. "This isn't a request, but a condition; in exchange for your lives that is."

"Quit the 'I'm so powerful' act, Law," Chas said, crossing her arms. "You're not good at it."

Law turned around to yell at Chas, but Luffy's voice interrupted.

"OI, TRAFFY!" Luffy shouted from somewhere on the building below. "How do I get in?!"

"How did he get out?!" Law shouted, looking out of the cage to Luffy who was happily waving from below.

"He just broke out," Chas said, laughing. "It's not like the cage is exactly made of Kairoseki."

"Damn, doing whatever he wants…" Law mumbled, seeming to be rather angry with Luffy.

Chas simply started laughing again, finding it amusing to see Law so agitated with a teenager.

* * *

_On the ground, Zoro's group:_

"Even if it's a strange way of running," Kinemon said, running as quickly as he can with the others to get away from the gaseous entity behind them, "it's the only way to not be caught!"

"Let's just hurry up and catch the dragon so we can fly off!" Zoro shouted, he cites fully set on the little dragon ahead of them.

Sanji, from behind, was heard wheezing and panting, having less energy to continue running then the others. "But…I…can't…"

"Hang in there, Sanji-san!" Brook said, arms in the air as he ran.

"It's no use!" Sanji said, putting hand to his chest (well, Nami's chest). "Nami-san's respiratory functions…are already at their limit… My chest hurts…" Sanji groped Nami's chest and soon gained this unimaginable speed that sent him running in front of the others.

"What kind of ridiculous power up is that?!" Zoro shouted angrily when Sanji caught the dragon.

"Hey, I caught it!" Sanji cheered happily, holding the dragon. Pretty soon, they all had caught up and flew off on the dragon, toward the metal building ahead of them. In turn, they caught up with Usopp and Nami who were with Brownbeard, who had unremarkably survived.

"OI!" Usopp and Nami shouted. "Don't close the shutters!"

"The dragon's biting my tail!" Brownbeard shouted.

"It's no good, we're being locked out," Usopp cried. "We'll be killed by the gas!"

"Let us in!" Nami cried.

"Can you cut the metal, Kinemon?" Zoro questioned over all the shouting.

"It shouldn't be a problem!" Kinemon said, getting his sword ready.

As Brownbeard ran towards the doors, Kinemon swung his sword, cutting the shutters and letting Brownbeard run into them, pushing them back. They were all inside with everyone: Luffy, Law, Robin, Smoker, Tashigi, the marines, and even Chas, who stood right behind Luffy. Everyone, for the most part, was there, ready to get 'a little crazy' as Luffy put it.

* * *

**I miss your reviews guys...very much...**


	58. Chapter 58

"How is it Brook?" Usopp asked.

Brook chuckled. "Like a world of death." After closing the hole Kinemon had made in the door, the gas had covered everything and once it subsided, Brook's spirit went out to check. "Thinking about it, what if we hadn't closed the hole? I'd definitely die!"

"YOU JERK!" two of the marines from G-5 shouted at Brook.

Zoro nodded in understanding. "Okay."

"It's not okay!" another marine shouted.

"Thanks to you guys everyone almost died!" another shouted.

"We were also the ones who closed the hole!" the other group shouted.

Soon, the marines pulled their guns on Zoro and the others. "You pirates joke around even more than the rumors say! Surrender, Straw Hat Pirates and Pirate Brownbeard!"

"Eh?" Nami shouted, eyeing the guns. "I feel like we're being cornered?"

"There's nowhere to run!" Usopp said.

Kinemon eyed the marines with Zoro, who replied hotly, "Like there's a problem."

Sanji chuckled confidently. "It's better to stop now!"

Brook laughed, joyously as he pulled his sword out while Brownbeard silently stood there, watching enthusiastically, simply happy that the marines knew his name.

"Oh!" Luffy said, laughing happily. "It started!" Luffy continued to laugh from then on, watching the scene below.

"Okay you two," Law said, looking to Smoker and Tashigi, "don't cause any trouble for me or his crew."

"Yeah, yeah," Smoker said huffily as he put his Jutte over his shoulder.

"OI TRAFFY!" Nami shouted angrily from below. "YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING!"

Law clicked his tongue at the nickname and looked down below to Sanji and Nami. He turned his fingers, switching them back, which seemed to displease Sanji the most.

"Damn it!" Sanji shouted. "The dream ended!"

"I'm back to normal!" Nami cheered happily, before noticing something odd. "This coat is different!" Nami punched Sanji. "Did you take off my clothes?!"

"It was too thick!" Sanji cried, before collapsing to the ground. "That wasn't the damage from the blow just now… My body is…"

"Ah," Usopp said, "Nami suffered lots of damage in your body because of Caesar."

"Eh?" Sanji soon began crying tears of relief. "Great! I'm so happy it was my body and not hers!"

"I'm so proud of you!" Usopp said, crying also.

Chas chuckled, having watched the whole scene below with Luffy, but it seemed that she was still unnoticed by them.

"Has everyone finally caught up with all the gossip?" Law shouted angrily, drawing everyone's attention. "We're wrapped up in poisonous gas from all sides, so don't go into open air. There's no leaving the laboratory!" Law took a breath, soon continuing his speech, which Chas rolled her eyes at. "There's only one direct route to escape to the sea! The huge door with 'Building R-66' written on it. Killing isn't a fond hobby of mine, but, there are only two hours left! Beyond that, I can't guarantee your lives will be safe inside this laboratory anymore."

"I'm sure we can take care of ourselves…" Chas mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Will everything work out at the lab?" Luffy asked Law.

"I don't know if it will work out, but I'll just do my thing," Law answered calmly.

Chas chuckled, making Law look back at her. "Something _funny_, Chasaji?"

Chas looked at Law with a smirk. "Just remembering why we broke-up."

"Now's not the time for that."

"Then…" Luffy said cutting in. "Let's go!" Luffy jumped off the railing, quickly running off. "Ain't no way in hell I'll be stopped again! Let's beat Caesar into submission!"

"G-5!" Smoker shouted to his men. "You guys will recover the kidnapped brats and head to R-66. We'll take the tanker at the harbor and leave Punk Hazard!"

"I've been waiting for this, Momonosuke!" Kinemon shouted. "I'll definitely save you!"

"Let's split up and each check one side!" Nami said.

"Show the way!" Usopp said. "Zoro, you alone is no good!"

Chas was about to run off, going to join Zoro's group under Luffy's orders, but she stopped when she heard Smoker telling Tashigi to go on ahead.

"Where are you going?" Tashigi asked, soon looking shocked. "Don't tell me…Vergo?!"

"You know my motto, Tashigi," Smoker said, gritting his teeth. "Never back down from a fight. I'll do it with my two hands! They dare make light of the marines?!"

"Then take me as well!" Tashigi said. "His strength shouldn't be taken lightly! If something happened, then…"

"Then who would protect the men?!" Smoker said, stopping in his tracks. "Take those idiots along with the kids and escape!" Smoker was going to walk off again, but his coat was tugged on. He looked back to see Chas, gripping his jacket. He looked to her, meeting her serious and sad gaze. Smoker gave a light smile, rubbing her head. "I'll be back."

Chas closed her eyes, sniffing a bit before slapping Smoker's hand away and pouting at him. "Stop treating me like a kid, Old Man."

Smoker chuckled and soon walked off.

Chas stood there for a moment and smiled a bit. _Good luck, Ojiki…_ she thought before running off to join Zoro and the others.

* * *

"For real?!" Zoro said after defending himself. "Luffy was defeated?!"

"Yeah," Usopp said, his back to Zoro's. "Caesar had said how he suffocated his opponents with gas…what a troublesome guy."

Zoro clicked his tongue. "Let your guard down and your life is over immediately!"

"But we're still alive, right?" Usopp laughed nervously.

"OI Luffy!" Zoro shouted, looking to Luffy who was making his way down the aisle towards the door. "This isn't a joke!" Luffy stopped in his tracks and looked to the swordsman to see him furious. "Stop dicking around! From here on out it's the new world!"

Luffy simply smiled and gave a thumbs up. "I got it! I won't let my guards down anymore!" Soon Luffy was cornered by Caesar's men. He jumped off over the railing, spinning. "Gomu Gomu no UFO!" Luffy then began spinning his legs, like a UFO, and defeated each man that got in his way.

"I said take it seriously…" Zoro mumbled while Usopp simply laughed from beside him.

"I don't know how much time Trafalgar Law said we had," a marine shouted, still having their guns pointed at them, "but do you really expect us to let you escape? Right in front of us like this?! Straw Hats crew members, you have nowhere to run!"

"You guys," Zoro began, pulling out his swords again, "need to…get out of our way!" He then attacked the marines with Brook and Kinemon.

At some point, a marine had gotten the jump on Zoro, and before he could even slice him down, he was shot in the leg.

"Geez, I thought you were better than that…"

Zoro, Brook, and Kinemon turned around to see the friendly redhead standing there, hip cocked and gold pistol finger by her side.

"CHAS-SAN!" Brook shouted, about to run over and hug her with the others, but he stopped when he was suddenly attacked again.

"You're the girl who had her arm cut off, correct?" Kinemon asked.

Chas nodded as she walked forward, stepping over the marine she shot. She held out her free hand towards Kinemon, smirking. "Name's Chasaji, pleasure to meet you Mr. Samurai."

"Teaspoon?" Kinemon said, surprised. "That's a rather strange name…" He shook her hand anyway, even with her scowl that had replaced her smile. "But it's a pleasure!"

Chas turned her head and looked to Zoro, who was staring in pure shock. It seems that he wasn't expecting to see her, but she knew she would run into him at some point. Chas smiled. "Great to see ya, Mochi."

Zoro blinked and soon gave a smirk back. "Good to see you in one piece, Manju." The two soon clasped hands, shaking on equal terms. But even after the hand shake, they continued to stare at one another with their hands locked. It was like they were the only ones around, feeling the warmth from the other was reassuring to each of them.

"And now…kiss…" Brook said, trying to push the two towards each other, but it seems they had more knowledge of what was happening then he expected. The two soon hit him, shouting for him to stop and pay more attention to the marines, which had started firing again. Thus, the conversations and welcomes were cut short.

"Oh man!" Usopp said, laughing. "They're so reliable! Like the four musketeers!"

Sanji scoffed at the idea and wrong reference, but ignored it nonetheless. "Apologies, Brownbeard, for having to hitch a ride on your back."

"I don't mind," Brownbeard said as he ran off with Usopp, Sanji, Nami, and Robin who soon joined them under the same orders as Chas. "But why did you bring that dragon with you?!"

"We figured if we caught it, we could just fly away from the gas," Sanji answered.

"We're not flying now because he's been sedated with a tranquilizer," Usopp said.

"Was bringing it in here such a good idea then?" Brownbeard questioned.

"Is it even dangerous?" Nami questioned, looking back to the dragon. "It's making a kind of cute face right now…"

The marines, who were now angered at Zoro, Kinemon, and Brook for the attacks, began shouting about the idea of killing them all. Luckily, Tashigi had jumped in and kept that from happening, saying that it wasn't the time to be fighting. Sadly, everything was interrupted when the wall holding back the gas exploded, making a hole for the gas to come through. Everyone immediately began running towards the now shutting door.

Mostly everyone made it through the tight opening, except for a group of marines. Tashigi tried pushing past the people keeping her back, but they told her should couldn't go out because the door was closing already. Sadly, there was no time, because all of the marines outside the door were turned to stone, giving their last thumbs up to their beloved captain.


	59. Chapter 59

After much running around, the group that was with Brownbeard had ended up finding the children who were trampling over Chopper. After saving Chopper, the group learned the Caesar was making them big and violent fighters. So far there was no way to stop them.

Robin tried her best stopping the children with her Mille Fleur: Gigantes Mano, but the children just kept trying to press on towards the candy Mocha was keeping away from them. The children managed to get past Robin's hands and went after Mocha, who ran after Chopper yelled at her to run instead of trying to reason.

Mocha made a run towards the exit, but Monet, who had finished Luffy earlier, was already in his way. Monet had blocked the door with snow, keeping Mocha from leaving.

"AH!" Usopp screamed, pointing the woman. "It's her! The bird woman I told you guys about!"

Soon enough the room was a giant blizzard. After much dodging, Nami told Usopp, Kinemon, and Brook to go find Momonosuke, leaving Zoro, Chopper, Chas, Robin, and herself to deal with Monet and the children.

"It's so cold!" Nami shouted, hugging Chopper. "Why'd a Yuki Yuki no Mi user have to appear just when we took off our jackets?!"

"It's just how these things work…" Chas said, shivering with a small sneeze. _Damn…Maybe I should have followed Law…_

The children continued to run after Mocha. Robin tried once again to stop the children, but Monet had attacked her with swords/ice-picks from behind, keeping her from doing anything.

"ROBIN!" Nami, Chopper, and Chas shouted.

"I'll handle this!" Zoro said, blocking one of Monet's attacks. "You guys go stop the kids!"

"Robin!" Nami shouted, running towards Robin who was getting up from the ground. "Are you okay?"

"It's just a scratch," Robin answered with a smile. "We must hurry and stop the children!"

"Ya three go after the children, I'll stay here," Chas said, pushing Nami and the others towards the way the children went. She slowly followed behind to open the way for them.

Zoro gritted his teeth, managing to get a breath in before it lodged in his throat. Zoro quickly charged forward, gritting his teeth with rage.

"You bitch!" Zoro shouted, charging towards Chas, who was surprised. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"W-Wait a minute!" Chas said, frantically. "Why are ya tryin' to attack me?!"

Luckily Zoro had reached Chas just in time to save her from Monet's attack from behind. She opened her eyes, only to see the ice-pick sword Monet was using inches away from her face.

Monet licked her lips. "So close…"

"Going after unarmed targets…" Zoro snarled angrily. "Pitiful!" Zoro pushed Monet away and quickly ducked before Chas could burn him with her 'Kaki Kaki no Flame Thrower' which hurt Monet.

Monet gritted her teeth, angry with Chas, but didn't fight back. Instead, she disappeared into the snow.

"Do you have any intention of fighting, Snow Woman?!" Zoro shouted.

Chas looked around but was surprised when she was caught in a headlock by Monet, who was furious. "I won't let you go after them!" Chas gritted her teeth and quickly changed her hands into a gun. She closed her eyes and fired it up over her head to hit Monet, who fell to pieces after getting hit.

Zoro quickly ran over, catching Chas before she could hit the ground, but in turn both ended up in the snow.

"T-Thanks…" Chas stuttered, shivering from the cold.

"No problem," Zoro answered, helping her to her feet.

"What a dilemma," Monet said, forming back into herself.

Zoro quickly made a hole in the ice wall, keeping Nami and the others from progressing, and told them to go. The three quickly went after the children.

"How uncouth…" Monet said, looking to Zoro. "We took care of them day and night and let them live carefree lives… And you guys swoop right in and undermine our parenting and trying to take away the fruits of our labor… Typical of pirates!"

"So, in other words, we're acting exactly how we are supposed to?" Zoro said, smirking.

"Sounds like it," Chas said, also smirking.

"I'm simply saying you have no class!" Monet shouted. "Now stop interfering with my mission!" Monet swung back her wing. "Tabira Yuki Skin Katana!" She then swung towards Zoro, who quickly blocked.

"I've noticed that you've simply been blocking my blade, and haven't bothered mounting a counter-attack," Monet said. "To be honest, I didn't think I had the skills to beat you, but…perhaps this means I can?" She licked her lips again with a sadistic smile.

"We have company!" Chas shouted, pointing towards the entrance. "Marines!"

"Even the marines are trying to take our children from us, unforgivable," Monet said.

"ATTACK!" Sanji shouted, charging with the marines, which shocked Chas but angered Zoro.

"And why the hell are you leading them?!" Zoro shouted, putting down his swords with Monet, watching the marines pass by.

"Big bro!" the marines shouted. "The children aren't here, just Pirate Hunter Zoro and Smoker's niece."

"NANI?!" Sanji shouted, stopping in his steps. He looked around frantically until he saw the red hair which had been broken out of its ponytail and resting on her shoulders. "CHAS-SAN!" Sanji then hugged Chas tightly.

"What about Pirate Hunter Zoro, Big Bro?" a marine asked.

"Ignore that arrogant prick!" Sanji shouted, not letting go of Chas. She wasn't struggling, mostly because Sanji was warm which was keeping her from freezing her butt off in the snow. "Everyone stick out your lower lips and give him the stink eye!"

"I hope you slip and crack your skulls," Zoro growled, his eye twitching in annoyance. "You're in my way, so hurry up and go!"

"Oh, for a mentally challenged person, that was quite articulate!" Sanji soon let go of Chas, kissing her cheek and running off after a few more words. "All right, we're heading out! I will return for you Chas-san!"

Chas waved towards Sanji, then looked toward Zoro, who had held up his swords again. "He's in yer way but I'm not?"

"Not at all," Zoro said, smirking, "in fact I feel comfortable with you around."

Chas's face went red. "Just shut up…" Chas soon crossed her arms, trying to calm her racing heart. That was until she saw Monet attacking the marines, biting off one's shoulder and then going after another when he shot her. She went after the Snow Woman, trying to get the marines away, and before Zoro even drew a sword, Tashigi had stepped in and slashed Monet in her wing, angering the woman.

"Tashigi…" Chas panted with shock.

"Captain-chan!" the marines cheered.

"We don't have much time left!" Tashigi said to her officers. "Hurry and track down those kids, please! I'm staying behind!"

"Eh?" Chas and Zoro said.

"I'm needed here!" Tashigi said in reply. She looked to Chas and smiled. "Plus I promised Smoker-san to look after you."

Chas blinked at Tashigi, feeling a warmth spread through her chest, one she hadn't felt for a long time.

"You, hurry up and go, too!" Zoro shouted, pointing towards the opposite exit.

"I'm free to go where I want and do what I want," Tashigi said.

"You're in my way!" Zoro was getting more frustrated with her by the minute. He didn't want her there.

"You're free to have that opinion on the matter," Tashigi said.

Zoro pointed his sword in front of Tashigi, stopping her from going forward. "If by that logic as a pirate I'm free to dispose of a marine if I feel like it, right?"

"You would never do such a thing," Tashigi answered.

"HUH?!"

"You would never unleash your full fury on me or that woman."

"You think you've got me all figured out, don't you?" Zoro chuckled.

Chas titled her head to the sides, looking at both Tashigi and Zoro. "I see…" Both looked to Chas seeing her deep in thought. "So Mochi's into older women…"

"Where the hell do you get that idea?!" Zoro shouted at her, before getting cut off by Monet laughing.

"I suspected as much," Monet said. "So it's true…"

Tashigi was silently thinking, but she soon looked to Zoro, huffing. "You view woman as being inferior! That's why you hold back in a fight!"

"That true?" Chas said, eyes twitching in irritation. Zoro tried denying Tashigi's words, but Chas didn't listen and soon wasn't listening at all.

"It is true!" Tashigi shouted. "You refuse to finish them off, so the only possible outcome is a draw! That's why I stayed here! So that this Logia user won't pose a threat to my subordinates!"

Zoro was angry, and on top of his anger at Tashigi, Chas was angry at him, which just made him even madder. "Why you little…! Are you looking down on me?!"

"Yes," Tashigi said, pointing her blade towards Monet.

Zoro sighed and soon sat down near the wall, a few feet from where Chas was standing. She refused to look at him, which just frustrated him more. "Do as you please."

"Eh?" Tashigi said, looking back to him.

"My mission is to not let the bird go after my nakama," Zoro said with a smirk. "As long as I've got this corridor, I'm good."

"Yer bein' awfully laid back, Sir-Who-Let-Me-Win," Chas said, huffing. She couldn't forgive him for letting her win those very few times they trained together.

"You do realize the time constraints we are under, correct?!" Tashigi shouted. "If you don't run-"

"Less talking, more swinging," Zoro said, waving his hand towards Monet, who was finding this rather amusing. "Your opponent's out for your head, you know."

"Exactly!" Monet shouted, turning into a snow monster bird thing (as Chas called her). "Thank you for revealing his weakness to me. Just because you can use a little Haki, doesn't mean I can't devour you!" Monet tried biting Tashigi, but the marine quickly blocked it.

Tashigi slashed, but missed when Monet moved. "Haki may allow you to attack us Logia users as if we were tangible entities, but if you cannot overcome me in terms of speed, it's utterly meaningless!" Monet laughed and attacked Tashigi again, throwing her back, into the snow.

"You're cold, aren't ya?" Monet said, looking back to Zoro.

"That's rich," Zoro said, glaring at Monet, "coming from a snow bitch."

"You don't have the luxury to look away!" Tashigi shouted, trying to slash Monet from behind.

Monet turned to snow, dodging the attack. "Do you enjoy snowball fights?" Tashigi looked up. "Snow Rabbit!"

"Soru!" Tashigi shouted, protecting herself from the rabbits.

"Ugh…" Chas said, her face turning pale. She shot a rabbit that came her way just in time. "I hate rabbits…evil creatures…"

"I guess I underestimated Smoker's right hand just a bit," Monet said, blowing out snow. "Blizzard!" Tashigi was wrapped in a tornado of snow, not able to see around her. "I'll be sure to give your subordinates a warm welcome." By the time Tashigi turned around, she was attacked.

"Tashigi!" Chas shouted, about to run in, but Zoro kept her back.

Monet's sharp teeth pierced Tashigi's shoulder, making her scream loudly. Tashigi, remembering what happened to one of her officers, wrapped her arms around Monet, not letting go.

"What are you trying to…let go of me!" Monet said. Tashigi didn't let go. "I can still eat you just like this!" Monet bit harder, making Tashigi scream again. Monet soon had to let go when he face was scratched by a bullet. She looked over but didn't see the girl who could make herself into a living weapon. Instead Zoro emerged from the snow.

"You sure can talk the talk," he said, walking forward with a sadistic smile, "but you're not quite ready to walk the walk. Time's up…it's my turn. You can't let your guard down around me, Snow Woman."

Monet wiped her cheek, looking at the cold gaze Zoro was giving, not realizing Chas was getting Tashigi to safety.

"You should have flown away the moment you realized you couldn't beat me," Zoro continued. "I admit, there are certain things I don't enjoy slicing, but when you cross paths with a beast, are there any guarantees that you won't be mauled by it?" Monet's eyes widened. "Of course not!"

Zoro charged forward, sword following behind.

"Ittoryu!" Zoro said, swinging his sword at Monet, parting it straight down her. "Dashikan."

Monet collapsed to the ground, not fully understand what just happened.

Zoro put his sword back in its sheath, walking back towards Chas and Tashigi who stood there, amazed. "You happy now?" He walked past the two girls, towards the door.

"You dare…mock me…" Monet muttered, beginning to stand to her feet.

"Yer still alive?!" Chas shouted. But soon, Monet collapsed into the snow again. She continued to try getting up, but she couldn't.

Chas turned around to look at Zoro, still shocked just like Tashigi was. _I can't believe it…_ she thought, before her eyes widened when she saw a part of Monet appear behind Zoro. She suddenly had a vivid recollection of one of her own crew members getting stabbed in the back, and before Chas realized it, she was shouting. "ZORO!"

"I…won't let you…escape!" Monet said, bringing her sword/ice-pick down on Zoro's back.

Zoro didn't turn around to see Tashigi give Monet the final blow, sending her down for good.

Chas couldn't believe it, and was beyond relieved when realizing Monet was finished. Why didn't she do anything to stop Monet? Was she that scared to lose him? Chas felt warm tears trickle down her face and that's when she understood her answer. Of course she failed to realize the _true_ answer about _why _she felt this way.

"What kind of sorry exhibition was that?!" Tashigi shouted, before she could even notice Chas behind her. "You weren't able to deliver the finishing blow after all! You proved my point, that's why I said-"

"Quit your whining," Zoro said, looking back over his shoulder, "you jumped in on your own. If you hadn't cut her, I-" Zoro was cut off when Chas suddenly ran into him, hugging him tightly. His face flushed and he didn't know what to do, especially when Tashigi was seen chuckling (much like Robin would have done if she was there). "O-Oi, Manju!"

"I'm so relived..." Chas said, tightening her grip on the swordsman. "I was so scared you were goin' to be like them..." Chas sniffed. "I know yer strong but…" Chas couldn't continue her talk and just buried her face in his chest.

Zoro was taken aback by Chas's words, but soon rested a hands on her back and hugged her, resting his chin on her head. He could understand what she was saying, even with all the mumbling and everything. Sure, he didn't know what he was doing much, but he gave the 'loving' side a chance to show its face. What he didn't expect was Chas to cry even more.

"See what you've done?" Tashigi said, putting her hands on her hips. "You scared her!" Tashigi soon crossed her arms. "Smoker-san isn't going to be happy when he hears you made her cry."

"S-Shut up!" Zoro shouted at her, still holding Chas as his face flushed a darker red.

Chas soon opened her eyes, peeking over Zoro's shoulder. That's when she noticed what was coming their way. "Shit!" Chas quickly pulled away from Zoro, shocking him. Chas then pointed behind. "Seems we didn't have as long as we thought."

Zoro and Tashigi looked to the door, seeing the gas coming their way.

"We have to get out of here!" Tashigi hurried.

"R-Right!" Zoro said. He quickly grabbed Tashigi, throwing her over his shoulder, then grabbed Chas's hand, dragging her behind him as they all ran away.

* * *

**N-N-Ninety...r-r-reviews... You guys made me so happy! Thank you so much!**


	60. Chapter 60

After a long time running from the gas, Zoro, Tashigi, and Chas had found themselves running towards the G-5 marines, giant children, and the other Straw Hat Pirates.

"Damn it, Mochi!" Chas shouted, still getting dragged behind the swordsman. "You took the wrong route! We should have never trusted you leading us!"

"More importantly!" Tashigi shouted. "P-Please let me down! This is embarrassing!"

"Who gave you permission to carry Tashigi-chan?!" Sanji shouted angrily, running towards the group of three. "And why are you holding Chas-san's hand?!"

"Zoro, it's the other way!" Nami shouted.

Zoro simply turned around and began running with his fellow comrades, all trying to get away from the gas that was chasing after them.

"Damn it, Law!" Chas shouted, angrily. "Why'd ya have to be so brash?!"

* * *

Soon enough, everyone had met up together in Block R, waiting for the last two members of the team to show up. In the meantime, Law was furious about Luffy punching Caesar through a wall, saying it wasn't part of the plan.

Of course, Law went on and on about it, until he was finally silenced by a slap to the face from Chas.

"Yer an idiot!" Chas shouted, gripping him by the collar. "Ya could have killed us all with that little slicin' technique of yer's! What would ya have done about yer agreement then?!"

"Stop it, Teaspoon!" Luffy shouted, pulling Chas off of him. She struggled, shouting about how much she wanted to punch him more, but Luffy didn't let her.

After some more time, all the children and marines were on the tank Law and Smoker had brought, Luffy and the others continued to wait for Chopper, Usopp, Brook, and Kinemon who had yet to return.

"What's the hold up?!" Law shouted. "Hurry up and get on! If Caesar escapes because you blew him away on a whim, this entire plan fails!"

"Blah, blah, blah!" Luffy said, crossing his arms. "We're not budging until our nakama get back here!"

Chas chuckled with hearing Law getting furious over the idea. She soon took a deep breath, releasing it. She then suddenly realized how much her leg was hurting her. She moved her jacket and saw a red stain soaking through her jeans. She knew she had busted a few stiches again, and Chopper wasn't going to be too happy with her.

"You all right?" Chas looked up to see Zoro looking to her.

Chas smiled and nodded. "Yeah, fine." Chas covered herself again and began waiting patiently for the others to come back, not knowing Zoro had noticed the color of blood seeping through her clothes.

"Is Franky outside?" Nami questioned.

"He said something about moving the Sunny out to sea," Sanji answered. "So he should be fine."

"Unless the ship got eaten by a giant shark…" Chas said, serious. "Or Sea King."

All conversations ended when Brook was heard shouting from outside the now closing door.

"They're here!" Luffy said, smiling.

"Woohoo!" Brook shouted, dancing with the stone man over his head.

"We made it!" Chopper cheered.

"All right!" Luffy said. "We're all here, let's hitch a ride! This place is gonna collapse!"

Everyone quickly ran to the truck, or tank, hoping aboard and getting out of the collapsing building. When onboard, after tending to Mocha for a bit, Chopper began hugging Chas, so happy she was all right and safe. Chas patted Chopper's head, multiple times, trying to get him to calm down, but he wouldn't.

"_Well," _a familiar voice rang in Chas's head, _"I'm quite surprised you actually met up with everyone. Your luck really is something, Chasaji."_

_Where the hell have ya been? _Chas thought. _Last time I hear yer annoyin' voice was when-_

"_Yes, yes, I know," _the armor said. _"I was just picking and sorting through your memories to understand you a bit more."_

_YOU WHAT?! _Chas was furious with the armor ignoring the privacy barrier she had been trying to make.

Soon, the truck shook from an explosion, making everyone shout and cutting Chas from her thoughts.

"It was Block D…" Law said. "That's the S.A.D. Production room!"

Luffy quickly kicked away one of the large pieces of rubble that was heading for the children.

"This corridor traverses straight through the mountain," Law said, a bit too calm to believe. "We'll be buried alive if we're caught under the debris."

"Then why don't you try speaking with some sense of urgency?!" Usopp shouted at Law.

"Some of the rubble is blocking the path!" Chas shouted from up front.

"We're going to crash!" the children panicked.

Zoro quickly drew his sword, slashing away the debris and letting the truck race down the tracks. As it did so, Law just decided to mention that there would be gas waiting for them down at the end. The marines, of course, panicked again, but seemed a bit more surprised when Nami said she could manipulate wind to get the gas out of their way.

"The exit's in our sights!" Chas shouted over all the others shouting.

"Send out some wind, Nami!" Usopp shouted, beginning to panic with the thought of gas surrounding them outside. "It's a world of poison out there!"

Nami did as asked, just as the tank exited the tunnel. Everyone cheered happily, especially the children. "We're out!"

Buffalo and Baby 5 turned away from their fight with Franky (and his giant machine) to be surprised to see the others had survived.

Franky smiled. "Finally here, huh? I was getting tired of waiting!"

Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp all began, to put plainly, fangirling overseeing Franky's giant robot in front of them. "Holy crap look at that! It's the shogun!"

The children and marines all turned their heads to the hill nearby, all seeing the same sight Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were fanning over. Soon, they were all shouting, "It's a robot!" while the women all stayed silent, just trying to understand how they could get so hyped up over such a simple thing.

"Buffalo and Baby 5?!" Law shouted, surprised to see them.

Chas perked an ear, looking over the edge of the tank to see the fight on the ground. She couldn't help but giving her most devilish smile.

"Law!" Baby 5 shouted. "So, you've really betrayed Joker?"

"You back-stabber!" Buffalo said, grinding his teeth. "For your sake Joker reserved the seat of 'Hearts'…"

"Friends of yours?" Luffy questioned, turning to look at Law.

"No…" Law said. "They're enemies."

Everyone stood at the edge, looking down towards the people who were deemed enemies. A few faces showed smirks and sadistic laughs, such as Chas's smile and laugh that left her lips.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," Chas said, cracking her knuckles. "I've been waiting a _long _time to get my hands on _the_ Baby 5."

"Why?" Nami questioned.

"Because Baby 5 believes she's a better sharpshooter than Chasaji," Law answered, smirking. "Also the first."

Chas simply laughed again. "Yeah, that bitchy maid is goin' to know who the better sharpshooter is after this!"

Buffalo cursed under his breath. "A full crew, plus all of G-5?! This is more than we signed up for!" Buffalo and Baby 5 soon began moving away, flying through the sky, towards Caesar.

"Either way," Baby 5 said, "we have to get Caesar to the young master!"

"They're trying to take Caesar away!" Usopp said, smirking. "All right, leave it to me! Airborne enemies are my forte!"

Law of course didn't listen to Usopp and was about to attack with his own abilities, until Luffy stopped him. "Hey, hey, wait a minute! Usopp said to leave it to him, didn't he?"

"Don't go looking down on our sharpshooter," Zoro said, looking back to Law. "Don't judge a nose by its cover!" Chas put a hand to her forehead, finding the pun rather stupid.

"We don't have time for these childish games!" Law shouted at the Straw Hats. "If they escape then this whole plan will…"

"Isn't this supposed to be an alliance?" Chas questioned, crossing her arms and cocking a hip. "Have a little faith, Traffy!" Law glared at Chas.

"What's this about an alliance?" Zoro questioned, but got no answer.

"I've spent this entire time running away," Nami said, resting his pole against her shoulder, licking her lips and smiling. "I don't think I've had my fill of attacking yet!" She and Usopp stood side by side. "Enemies that have lost the will to fight and fleeing with their tails between their legs! That's _my _specialty!"

"All gimp and cowering enemies with their back to us!" Usopp said. "Leave 'em to me!"

"We get it…" Zoro and Chas sighed. "We don't have all day!"

Usopp pulled out his sling shot, adding water to one of the balls he put at the end. "Grow up! Black Kabuto 'Chomping Grass'!" He then slung it over the edge of the tank and let it begin to eat the rubble on the ground, letting it fill to its hearts content.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Buffalo!" Baby 5 shouted. "They're planning something!"

"Leave the flying to me!" Buffalo said. "We still need to finish the mission! You watch my back, Baby 5."

Luffy turned to Chas. "Hey, Teaspoon, think you can try shooting them? It might slow them down."

Chas laughed. "What's this about 'trying'?" Chas formed a Sniper Rifle with her armored hand, amazing the children, marines, Chopper, and Luffy. "Of course I can shoot them! Who the hell do ya think yer talkin' too, huh?"

Chas bent down, resting her arm against the edge of the tank and sent up her position, smiling when she had Baby 5 in her sights. "I'm going to snipe that smile right off yer pretty little face, Baby 5…" Chas soon shot the gun, but cursed when the bullet grazed Baby 5's hair instead. "Damn it!"

"Nice going…" Zoro chuckled. Chas looked back over her shoulder, glaring at Zoro.

Chas set up again, just as Nami had finished her preparations, and shot again, managing to hit Baby 5's cigarette this time. Baby 5 soon looked back over her shoulder and snarled, knowing it was Chas who had her spots on them.

"Weather egg!" Nami shouted, throwing the egg up into the sky over Baby 5 and Buffalo. "Now hatch, Lightning-chan!"

The egg opened and released a bunch of thunderclouds into the sky.

"Buffalo, this doesn't look good at all!" Baby 5 said.

"Don't worry, I've reached maximum velocity!" Buffalo replied.

"Nope!" Nami chimed with a smile. "You won't be getting away from me." She swung her pole, bring a lightning bolt past Buffalo and Baby 5. "The science of weather… Thunder Breed!" A large bolt soon came after, shocking Baby 5 and hitting her and Buffalo. "TEMPO!"

"YES!" everyone cheered, seeing Baby 5 and Buffalo falling towards the ground.

"Here's the finisher!" Usopp said, slinging that large plan back and firing. "Certain kill! Meteor Shower Strife!" The large plant then shot out all the rubble it had eaten and sent it flying towards the enemies, hitting them right on.

"You idiot, you're useless!" Caesar shouted, having awoken from his sleeping state. The rubble came flying at him, but just passed right through. "Like that'll work, Moron! I'm the living embodiment of gas! I'll head to Dressrosa…even if that means…going on my own!"

"It's not use…" Usopp said with a smirk. "My final bullets are…" Usopp fired once again, hitting Caesar right in the throat. "Kairoseki handcuffs!"

"All right!" everyone cheered. "We caught him!"

Usopp chuckled, enjoying all the congratulations and shouting behind him. "Enemies with their backs turned are no match for-"

"We get it already!" Zoro and Chas shouted one again. The two soon turned to look at each other, high-fiving and snickering at their achievements.


	61. Chapter 61

"Listen up, you pirate scum!" the marines shouted, finishing up drawing the line between both teams of pirates and marines. "The tanker's yours! This line here divides 'good' and 'evil'! Don't you dare cross it! Got that Straw Hats?!"

Chas rubbed her temples, not really fully understanding G-5's logic.

"Who told you to do all that?" Smoker said, glancing back over his shoulders having just finished speaking on the Den Den Mushi. "I only said not to mingle with them."

"Its is in times such as these that we must be most thorough, Vice-Admiral Smoker!" a marine said. "The medical team can travel to and fro as they please though!"

Smoker sighed, ignoring his subordinates. "I've contacted G-5 base… A ship will be arriving shortly to pick us up here."

"Brownbeard," Luffy said, stepping over the line just spoken about and towards the large animal man. "You guys really gonna let yourselves get caught? What a shame…just when we're finally become friends."

Brownbeard laughed. "It seems as if we've been experimented on with various poisons. If we get detained by the marines, they're sure to examine and eventually cure us."

"Smart idea," Chas said, putting a hand to her chin as she smiled.

"Dammit Strawhat and Shotgun Chasaji!" the marines shouted. "Did you not hear our lecture about the line?!"

"Like I care!" Luffy shouted back.

"Ya guys decided that on yer own!" Chas shouted with.

Soon everything was interrupted by Chopper shouting from the ship. "Luffy! You have to stop him!" Chopper began panicking. "Mu…mu…mu…mur…mur…murderer!"

"Who, what, where?!" Luffy shouted, turning in circles.

"It's Law!" Chopper shouted.

Chas chuckled. "Well, like we didn't know that was going to happen."

"AH!" Brook screamed, shocking everyone to look at him now.

"Not you too!" Luffy shouted.

"I-I-I have slain someone as well!" Brook said, crying in his hands. "Well, technically he was dead already but still… I BROKE HIM!" Everyone ran over to see Kinemon in pieces.

"So, on top of being dead, he's in pieces?!" Sanji shouted.

"He's broken and dead!" Luffy shouted.

Soon, the shell around Kinemon's body began slowly cracking apart and just as everyone was panicking further, his head was free and he alive. But, instead of being greatful, he screamed when seeing everyone. In reply, Luffy, Brook, and Sanji screamed also.

"Why the hell are you alive?!" Sanji questioned, punching Kinemon as a reaction.

"That was totally uncalled for, Sanji-san!" Brook shouted, putting his hands to his head.

"That's what he gets for being alive instead of being dead like he was supposed to be!" Sanji shouted in reply.

"Woah…get outta here… I thought Kinemon was…"

"Father!"

Kinemon turned his head, rubbing his cheek, and his eyes soon widened when he saw his son. "Momonosuke! You're unharmed! I'm so relieved!" Kinemon hugged his son tightly, both crying from their reuniting.

Chas, from Smoker's side, smiled slightly at watching the interaction between father and son, along with Luffy. But soon, her smile faded and she found herself looking to the ground.

"_Oh dear…" _the armor spoke. _"Thinking of your own father?"_

_Ya decided to come up in the most ridiculous times, ya know that? _Chas thought right back. _But in case ya don't know already, yes…I am… _

"_No use pondering over such dreadful thoughts," _the armor said.

_Get out of my head, _Chas answered, beginning to walk off and going onto the tanker to find Chopper and Law. The armor listened to Chas and went silent, not bugging Chas any further.

"Law!" Chopper screamed in front of the door. "Get out here Law! What are you doing in there?!"

Law opened the door and walked out of the room, stopping in front of Chopper.

"What on earth were you doing to the kids in there?!" Chopper shouted again. "If you so much as harmed a hair on anyone-!"

"I told you to mind your business, didn't I?" Law snarled. "I've finally finished…" Law's face darkened, making Chopper's face turn pale. "…cutting them into little pieces…!"

Chopper screamed in terror, making Chas laugh from behind him (mostly because she knew Law was messing around with the small reindeer). Chopper then ran past Law, into the room.

"They were exposed to numerous chemicals," Law continued. "So, I had to be methodical in treating them…"

Chopper was soon crying tears of joy when finding all the children were all right. It turns out he had jumped to conclusions when thinking Law slaughtered them all.

"Maybe ya should be a bit lighter on yer jokes, Law," Chas said, walking by and over to Nami and the others.

"Who said I was joking?" Law said, walking away.

Chas rolled her eyes and walked over to Usopp and Nami, just as Usopp was saying, "Oi, Nami, you were the one who talked to the marines about those kids, right?"

"Mhmm," Nami said with a smile, leaning over the edge of the ship and looking out onto the open sea. "I left it in their hands. I'm in no position to save them. After all, I'm nothing more than a pirate, helping them isn't exactly my forte."

"Well said!" Chas cheered, giving Nami a thumbs up, with made the girl laugh. "They'll probably just pin the kidnapping charges on us anyway."

"It's better to leave them to the 'Allies of Justice'!" Usopp said, laughing.

Nami similed. "Yeah…besides…I'm absolutely dreadful at dealing with female marines…"

Chas raised an eyebrow, looking to Nami who smiled at Chas with a light wink. Chas chuckled, knowing from the stories Nami had told her the meaning behind those words.

"Female marines?" Usopp questioned. "That's right! Your mother was a marine, right?"

Nami nodded. "Being in the hands of a strong, capable, female marines is the best thing for those kids!"

"Yer absolutely right," Chas said, leaning against the railing also.

"What were your parents like, Chas?" Usopp asked.

Chas looked back over her shoulder and smiled. "I don't remember. I didn't know who my dad was because he died before I was able to understand anything of the world." Chas then looked back out onto the sea. "My mother…well…she was amazing…" Chas frowned. "But I can't remember much of her... She died of illness when I was five or six…after that I lived with Ojiki until I left to become a pirate."

"Was your mother a marine?" Nami asked.

Chas looked to Nami and nodded. "Yep. From stories I've been told, so was my father."

"Well, raised in a family of marines was no understatement," Usopp laughed. Chas laughed along with him, ignoring the fact that was about to cry from her heart breaking memories of her family.


	62. Chapter 62

"What happened to all that sanctimonious crap about good and evil?!" Sanji shouted, crossing his arms and glaring at the begging marines. After he had fed Kinemon and Momonosuke, everyone was begging for the delicious smelling food.

"Cease fire, Big Bro!" the marines said, smiling with his nodding companion behind him.

"In that case," Zoro said, smirking, "bring some booze from your tanker!"

"My pleasure!" another marines shouted as a child shouted for juice.

Law quickly pulled Luffy aside. "Oi, Strawhat, we need to remain in constant motion. If we loiter around here gallivanting, someone's sure to get the drop on us. Relay that message to your men."

"Really?" Luffy said, looking fully serious when speaking. "Okay, I got it." Soon after, Luffy walked away, jumping onto some crates and shouted, "Time to party!" Which just made Law's face pale and the words 'How stupid is this kid?' written all over his face.

Chas laughed loudly, patting Law on the shoulder, which irritated the man even more. "Lighten up, Traffy!"

"You're just as incompetent as I remember, Chasaji," Law said, glaring at Chas.

Chas shrugged. "How am I the incompetent one? Yer the one that made an alliance with the fella!"

Chas chuckled at Law's scowl that seemed to be imprinted on his face. She didn't have anything more to say about the matter, knowing she won, and simply walked away, whistling Bink's Sake to herself as she walked over to the marines that were near Zoro. She yelled at a few of them, before turning to yell at Zoro for something he did, which began the usual fight. That was until the marines got in-between the two, holding a bottle of Sherry and some other alcohol, which made the two stop fighting and get back to enjoying themselves.

Law simply sighed at this sight and took a seat on a box, a few feet from where Smoker sat watching his niece and others.

"Law," Smoker spoke up, "I never would have thought a pirate like you would keep up their end of the bargain." Smoker put his small bowl of soup up to his lips, taking a drink before continuing. "If you wanted to you could have killed me on numerous occasions. Looks like you plan on taking advantage of the Straw Hats and starting something with the four emperors, right?"

Law chuckled, taking a bite from his own bowl. "Huh…I'm beginning to wonder who's taking advantage of who here…" After a moment of silence, thinking about Luffy's previous words, he continued. "It's not as if I have a particular reason for letting you live, White Hunter." Law stood to his feet, throwing aside the now empty bowl. "Anyway, I'm planning on heading to Green Bit now, but…I wonder if I'll really be able to manage Strawhat's crew." Law began walking away, before being stopped by Smoker again.

"Wait a minute, Law," Smoker said, standing to his feet, "don't think I forgot about killing you for messing with my niece."

Law looked back over his shoulder with a straight face.

The two stared at each other before Smoker sighed and began walking away. "It'll have to wait until next time. Just remember, don't get too cozy with her."

Law walked away mumbling that he wouldn't have to worry about him getting close to Chas.

"So am I to understand that you'll be using the tanker?" Smoker questioned Luffy.

"Nah," Luffy said with a bone in his mouth and belly plotted from all the food. "Nami and Chopper said that there's no way we're leaving until we know that the kids have set off safely. And there could be trouble if any marines besides you guys take them, so we need you to go ahead and use the tanker for that."

* * *

"Get on the boat, Brats!" the marines shouted, urging the children onto the tanker. "We're taking you home!"

"Oi, Strawhat!" a marine shouted, drawing Luffy's attention. "If the tanker is ours...then you can't cross this border!"

Everyone looked down to the black line drawn across the snow.

"That again?" Luffy pouted, the bone still in his mouth. "Weren't we just having a party together?!"

"You dumby!" the marines shouted before whispering their thanks for the party and hospitality his crew showed them.

"Well," Chas sighed, tilting over her bottle of Sherry, "guess it was too much too soon to get along with them."

After much shouting from the marines, children, and Strawhats, it was learned that the marines were telling the children to be quiet because they didn't want to get anymore attached to the Straw Hat Pirates than they were now. Of course, after admitting that, the group of marines broke down sobbing, making Tashigi laugh and Smoker just wonder how he was stuck with such sympathetic idiots.

Chas stood there, watching the marines shout at them, the children wishing their goodbyes, and her friends wishing everyone the best of luck. She was sad to be leaving everyone, and could admit she had fun with the marines while it lasted, even if they did hold her prisoner for a short time. Sadly, she needed to leave.

Chas jumped when a hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Zoro looking at her, smiling.

"Come on, we're leaving," Zoro said, motioning towards the Thousand Sunny.

"Right," Chas said, smiling back, keeping her tears back as well as she could. She turned around and followed the others towards the Thousand Sunny, before she was stopped once again.

"Oi, Teaspoon!"

Chas stopped and looked back over her shoulder (as did the others) seeing all the marines saluting her. They were all crying, but they still held firm to their posture and everything.

"It was great having you on our ship!" a marine said, sniffing.

"Even if ya were a prisoner!" another said.

"We won't forget ya Bouzu!" a group shouted together.

"Don't be saluting her!" Smoker shouted, angrily. But he himself couldn't help but give a small, very small, smile to his niece.

Chas felt the tears stream down her face and she couldn't help but start crying. She continued to wipe the tears away, but more just continued to fall. Suddenly, she was shoved forward. She looked back and saw Luffy snickering at her, which just made her understand that he was telling her to go say goodbye while she could. So, Chas did just that.

Chas ran forward, straight to Smoker, and hugged him tightly. Sure, she didn't have the best relationship with her uncle, but she couldn't say she didn't care for him.

"Get off me, Bouzu!" Smoker shouted, trying to pry Chas off of him. He could have pried her off easily, if he wanted to, but he didn't. Instead, Smoker left her, crying on his chest and she hugged him. It reminded him of when she was little, hugging his leg and crying because someone was being mean to her.

Smoker's cheeks flushed at all the stares they were getting and be patted Chas's head, not getting enough guts to actually hug her back. He still hadn't gotten over the full fact she was a pirate, but he still cared for her as his niece and just wanted the best for her.

Chas soon pulled away, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

"Get going, Bouzu," Smoker said, patting her head again.

"Right…" Chas said, nodding.

Tashigi soon walked up, smiling with tears in her eyes also. "I think you should take this, before you go." Tashigi held out an envelope and Chas took it in her hands.

"How'd you get that?!" Smoker shouted at Tashigi.

"I found it in your coat," Tashigi said, crossing her arms stubbornly. "It was addressed to her, so I thought she should have it."

Smoker simply sighed and soon stormed off towards the ship.

"Thanks for everything, Captain-chan," Chas said, holding out her hand with pride.

Tashigi smiled and instead of shaking Chas's hand, she hugged her. "Take care of yourself, Chasaji." Tashigi pulled away, gripping Chas's shoulders and winking at the girl. "I'll be sure to not tell Smoker-san about your relationship with Roronoa Zoro."

Chas's cheeks flushed. "W-What the hell are ya talkin' about?!" Chas soon slapped Tashigi's hands away and stormed off towards the others, stuffing the letter she was given in her pocket.

"Be ready for the next time we meet!" the marines shouted towards the Straw Hats as they left. "We'll be enemies again!"

Luffy laughed joyously and waved. "See ya!"

"What was that all about?" Zoro questioned as Chas walked by his side.

Chas reached in her pocket, pulling out the letter she was given and looking it over with a smile. "Just a last minute gift…that's all…"

* * *

Zoro stretched from side to side, walking across deck to the men's quarters. Night had fallen and after much shouting, and Kinemon demanding to fight him, he was exhausted.

"That wasn't part of the plan, Law!"

Zoro immediately stopped right before he reached the door and looked back over his shoulder to see Chas and Law having, what seemed to be, an argument. Of course, the two had been arguing for quite a while now, and not everyone could understand why. Zoro didn't even fully understand what was going on between them. It was like the two had this unknown connection.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop."

Zoro turned his head to the side and saw Robin, tilting her head and smiling at him.

"I'm not eavesdropping," Zoro answered. "And why are you still out here?"

Robin placed her hands behind her back and looked towards Chas and Law. "I heard their shouting and came out here to see what was going on." Robin looked back to Zoro. "Is there a problem?"

"Not at all…" Zoro said, crossing his arms and looking towards Chas, suddenly getting very ticked off when he saw her face turn bright red. "What the hell is between them anyway?"

"You mean you don't know?" Robin questioned. "Supposedly the two have dated before." Robin found herself giggling when Zoro's expression darkened at the information given. She wasn't even full surprised when Zoro began walking away from her, grumbling to himself. "Heading somewhere?"

"Yeah," Zoro said, opening the door to the men's quarters with an expression that showed he was fairly crossed at the moment, "I'm heading to bed." Zoro then walked into the room, slamming the door loudly behind himself.

Robin found herself giggling even more.

"Something funny, Robin?"

Robin looked up to see Chas in front of her, tilting her head to the side and looking confused. "Oh, it's nothing."

Chas simply rubbed her head in confusion, scowling at Robin's devious, yet overly calm, smile. Chas could only trust Robin with her, hopefully, honest answer.


	63. Chapter 63

It was morning the next day, and breakfast was hectic like always, even with three new friends joining. Of course, Law explained his plan to the others, and some listened intently, while others (like Chas) zoned out and could have cared less what he was saying. All in all, Chas didn't hear a thing that was being said, and neither did Zoro, having been thinking about this whole 'Chas and Law having been in a relationship' thing for the whole night.

Sadly, Robin had noticed that both weren't listening to anyone. She also knew that Zoro hadn't asked Chas anything about her previous relationship with Law and at the moment was assuming everything that could _possibly _be wrong in every way. So, she took things into her own hands.

"Chas-san," Robin spoke up.

Chas looked up, her chopsticks hanging loosely from her mouth as she gave a tired and dry look. "Hm?"

Robin smiled kindly, titling her head to the side. "You never did explain why your relationship with Trafalgar ended."

Chas's eyes widened, along with most of the other pairs in the room (this consisted of those who didn't know anything about Chas and Law having been in a relationship). The chopsticks fell from her mouth as she stared blankly at Robin. Her face turned red and she was shouting at the woman soon enough.

"I thought I said to keep quiet about that, Robin?!" Chas shouted, standing to her feet abruptly.

"Wait a minute!" Usopp shouted. "I don't think we're seeing the big picture here!" Usopp pointed to both Law, who was calmly sitting there with his mug in hand, and then pointed to Chas with his other hand. "You two were together?!"

"By relationship, you mean…?" Nami stuttered, looking to Robin. Robin nodded and Nami was soon smiling and nudging Chas in the side as her face reddened even more. "Oh dear, Chas, I never knew you had a hubby!"

Zoro, who had been trying to zone out everyone's talking, flinched at Nami's words and found himself gripping his fork a bit harder than before.

"What?!" Sanji shouted. "Law, you son of a bitch! How dare you touch my princess and contaminate her with your insensitivity?! You'll pay for this!" Before Sanji could even get a chance to punch Law, or kick him, Brook and Chopper were holding him back.

Chas shrunk back in her seat, embarrassed and very irritated with all the shouting about her and Law being a thing in the past. But even if it was in the past, it seemed like it was in the present, which didn't please Chas one bit.

"Will everyone just shut up?!" Chas shouted, making everyone silent. "It was two years ago, quit makin' a bit deal about it!"

"I believe _you're _the one making a big deal out of it, Chasaji," Law said from beside her. "If you would have just kept your large mouth shut and let me do that talking that time, none of this would have happened."

Those words ended up starting an argument between the two about a past circumstance that no one had any idea about.

Suddenly, Chas stopped yelling at Law, letting Luffy pester him about explaining, while she looked towards the door to see Zoro walking out.

"Oi, Mochi, where ya-" Before Chas could even finish, Zoro slammed the door shut.

Chas frowned and her eyebrows knitted together in the center of her forehead. Before she knew what she was doing, she was going after him. The others had asked her where she was going, but she didn't listen, nor did she answer, she just walked out.

"Oi, Mochi!" Chas shouted, running onto deck. Zoro didn't turn around let alone stop walking. She suddenly reached forward, snatching onto his jacket. "Zoro!"

"Quit shouting already!" Zoro snapped, brushing her arm off. "I heard you the first time!"

"Then why didn't ya say anythin'?!" Chas shouted right back.

Zoro went silent, quietly thinking things through his head. He had multiple questions for her, most of the ones he figured the others wanted to know too. He didn't really want to ask, because he didn't want to know. But then again, a part of him did want to know the answers.

"What the hell went on between you and that bastard?" Zoro suddenly asked.

Chas's eyes widened a bit and she was soon laughing nonstop. She was laughing so hard she had to sit down on the ground.

Zoro's face changed ever-so-slightly at Chas's laughing. His cheeks flushed a darker red and the scowl that was already there deepened.

"Quit laughing!" Zoro snapped, but Chas didn't stop.

"S-Sorry!" Chas said between laughs. She soon stopped laughing, wiping her tears from her eyes and looked up at Zoro. "Ya sure ya want me to tell ya?"

"Just answer the damn question already," Zoro mumbled, sitting down on the ground next to her.

Chas leaned back and looked up to the sky, biting her lip a bit. "All right…uh..." She didn't quite know where to start, saying as she hardly remembered much of her brief relationship with the shichibukai.

"How'd you two meet?"

Chas turned her head to look at Zoro, her heart jumping a bit when she saw that dead serious expression looking right at her. She couldn't help but look away when her cheeks flushed. "W-Well…I meet him a little after he became a shichibukai…" Chas scratched her head. "I was at port with my crew and ended up running into him… I guess things just sort of clicked from there." Chas sighed. "But that was only for a few weeks…didn't last very long…"

"If things clicked so well, why'd things end?"

Chas sighed and crossed her arms. "We didn't agree very well." Chas's face distorted a bit. "Plus the bastard was bossy as hell." Chas smirked sadistically. "In return, I burnt all his medical books and stole his treasure." Chas looked to Zoro, smiling. "It was the most fun I'd ever had in a relationship!"

Zoro bit his cheek, staring at Chas for a moment, which made the girl slowly grow uncomfortable. After another minute or two, he reached forward and put his hand on her cheek and pinched it.

"OW!" Chas screamed, her cheek stretching as his continued to pull. "What the hell, Mochi?!" Chas slapped his hand away and glared at him. "Why'd ya do that?!"

"No reason," Zoro said, looking away blankly. A blush had once again come to his cheeks and he was beyond happy that Chas didn't have feelings towards the guy anymore. He couldn't believe he was so childish to believe in things he head was making up.

Zoro stood to his feet and began walking away. "Come on, Dango, let's get back."

Chas snarled, glaring at the swordsman's back. But she stood to her feet and ran after the man, beginning to yell and argue with him like they usually did.

* * *

**I didn't know what to write…..so….I'm sorry for the lame chapter…. It'll get better!**


	64. Chapter 64

**The first paragraph contains my opinion about what is going to happen in the end of the Dressrosa arc, along with a little add to what I will think happen afterward. Of course, they're just deductions and aren't 100% right.**

* * *

About a week had pasted since everything at Dressrosa and Zou went down. By this time, Law was back with his crew; the samurai, his son, and their friend had stayed on Zou to continue their original plan; and the Straw Hats were back on their original plan of finding the treasure of the journal before beginning to help Law with his plan. Although, just as the Straw Hats were beginning to continue their journey, they had run into another problem.

"I can't believe you got sick," Nami said, looking down at the person in the bed. "And just when we were getting back to the journal…"

"S-Sorry…" Chas mumbled with her hoarse throat.

"I thought idiots didn't get sick…" Zoro mumbled, leaning back against the wall. This was before Sanji kicked him over for being so rude.

"Shut up, Marimo!" Sanji shouted. "Can't you see Chas-san is sick?!" Sanji walked over to the bed, smiling gently as he set down a warm mug on the table. "I've brought you some warm tea with honey in it for you, Chas-san. It should help with the sore throat."

Chas tiredly turned her head and smiled weakly at Sanji, whose face immediately flushed bright red. "Thanks, Sanji."

Sanji bit down on his handkerchief, groaning and pouting. He felt so bad that she was sick and stuck in bed. In all his life, he had never been sick, so he didn't understand how miserable Chas actually was. But all in all, he still loved her smile.

"I'm so sorry, Chas-san!" Sanji began crying, falling to his knees and hugging the girl. "I wish there was more I could do!"

Chas patted Sanji's head, hoping that it would cheer him up in the slightest so he would get off of her, but it didn't.

Zoro snarled at seeing the chef latched onto the woman and immediately walked over, grabbing Sanji by the collar and throwing him out of the room. He then shut the door again and locked it, making the chef unable to get in again (even with the constant kicking and beating on the door).

"I'm sorry guys…" Chas sniffed.

"It's not your fault Chas," Chopper said, standing at the bed side and drying her sweaty forehead.

"Actually," Usopp said, "isn't it sort of her fault for not telling us sooner?"

"She just didn't want to worry us," Robin said, crossing her arms and frowning. The reason Chas was sick, very, very sick, was because the wound she had received all the way back at Reika Shima has failed to heal and had gotten infected badly. The infection was so bad, Chopper needed to make a special antibiotic just to help it.

"It's best to just stay in bed, Chas," Chopper said. "We'll get back to the journal when you're all better."

"When will that antibiotic be done, Chopper?" Zoro asked, leaning up against the door which was still getting banged on and kicked at by Sanji from outside.

"A few days," Chopper said, looking back over his shoulder. "This is my first time making it, so I don't know if I'll get it right on the first try."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Chas said, smiling to the others. "Ya don't need to worry."

Chopper ran over to the coffee table near the couch and searched through his bag. When he found what he wanted, he ran back over to Chas, handing her two pills. "These should help with the pain and help bring your fever down, Chas."

"Thanks, Chopper," Chas replied, slightly delusional at the moment. She then took the piles and snuggled under the covers where she immediately fell asleep.

"Aw, man!" Usopp whispered/shouted. "And we were planning on making this really cool looking contraption today!"

"That can wait," Nami said, crossing her arms. She then turned to Robin, who was laying a cool cloth on Chas's forehead. "Robin, I'm sorry to ask you but can-"

"It's fine," Robin said, already knowing Nami was going to ask her to look after Chas. "I don't mind looking after her. I've been wanting to finish my book anyway."

Nami nodded in reply and pretty soon everyone filed out of the room, leaving the sick girl to rest.


	65. Chapter 65

Zoro sighed once again, taking the towel in his hands and drying his forehead of sweat. He then continued down to his bare neck and shoulders. He had been training in the gym ever since that morning, and he couldn't help but think it was a bit too quite. Usually he would have yelled at Chas a few times, or get pestered to spare or something from her. But no, nothing had happened.

Zoro picked up the weights on the ground and put them back in their given places. He paused for a moment and looked around. Everything was clean. Weights had been put back in their places; towels were still hanging in their given spots (other than the one around his neck); and the cushion was back in its corner. The only thing that was really out of place in the room was the sketch book sitting on the bench.

Zoro grumbled. "I thought I told her not to leave her stuff lying around…" He sauntered over to Chas's sketch book and picked it up. He looked at it for a moment, flipping it around to look at its back and cover. After a moment of looking it over, he was sitting down on the bench and flipping through it.

Of course, the first few drawings were ones he had already seen and after skipping past those, he noticed a few more drawings had been added. The first was of Rui, the purple and yellow bird Luffy had adopted. He was curled up in a ball, head under his wing, and was laying on what looked a lot like Zoro's jacket. This was most likely the explanation he had been looking for when he suddenly found his jacket with holes in it the other day.

Zoro turned the page and found a drawing of Atif, along with Marco and few other crew members that he figured were Porfirio, Coster, Knud, and Benigno. In the picture, Marco was repairing Atif while the others all argued and threw things at each other. Of course, having not meet any of this group except Marco and Atif, Zoro didn't fully understand what was going on.

The next page was on a few of the Straw Hats: Luffy, Franky, Usopp, Brook, and Robin all playing cards in the kitchen with Sanji in the back cooking like usual. Luffy and Usopp were holding their heads in despair because they had lost suddenly. Their cards were flying everywhere, making everyone laugh together.

Just as Zoro was turning to the next page, the hatch to the gym opened up and Usopp popped his head in.

"Oi, Zoro," Usopp said, leaning forward, "Sanji says lunch is ready."

"Got it," Zoro said, setting the sketchbook aside and standing to his feet.

Usopp lifted an eyebrow. "What were you looking at?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Zoro said, hanging up his towel and walking over to the hatch. "Now let's get going, you know how curly eyebrows gets when we're keeping everyone waiting."

"Right!" Usopp said, completely forgetting about his curiosity of what Zoro was looking at and headed down the ladder.

Zoro followed behind, completely forgetting about the sketch book that sat open on the bench. Little did he know the next page in the book was a meaningful picture of him.

* * *

"All right!" Luffy cheered, looking at the lunch prepared for everyone. "Let's dig in!" Luffy was the first one to begin eating the sandwiches laid out on the table. Along with the fruit and meat that was joining the sandwiches.

"Delicious as always," Robin said, smiling as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Oh thank you, Robin-chan!" Sanji chimed, swooning from the wonderful complement. But he soon snapped out of it and grabbed the tray resting on the counter. "I'll be back shortly, I'm just going to go give Chas-san her lunch." Sanji then left, whistling and humming to himself.

"It's so quite with her being sick…" Brook said, holding up his teacup to his mouth.

"That's right," Usopp said, taking another bite of his sandwich. "I hardly knew what to do with my day since she wasn't helping me with the inventions."

"What about you, Zoro?" Nami questioned, looking towards the silent silence. "Aren't you and Chas usually sparing and stuff in the afternoon?"

"Sometimes," Zoro said. "But it's not like I don't have anything to do."

"You _never _have anything to do!" everyone shouted at him, but he ignored it.

* * *

After lunch, Zoro didn't really know what else to do, so he had decided to go take a nap somewhere. In his walking to that usual spot, he ended up passing by the girl's rooms, only to suddenly stop when he heard giggling and laughing. He looked towards the door, a confused grimace on his face.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he peeked in through the window, only to get angry at seeing Chas and Sanji together still. To make things worse, it was what they were doing that really infuriated him. Sanji was sitting on the bed, facing Chas as he massaged her left foot and leg. Chas on the other hand seemed to be enjoying this as she rested against the bed's backboard.

Zoro's eye twitched when he saw Chas laugh at something Sanji said. For some reason he didn't like the idea of those two being alone, just like he didn't like the idea of Chas being alone with Law for a long time. Now, the swordsman didn't like the idea of being so jealous of other people around her, but he couldn't exactly help it. His feelings for the woman were a lot stronger than he originally pictured.

Before Zoro fully knew what he was doing, he opened the door to the room and walked in, surprising Chas a bit.

"Oi, Marimo," Sanji snapped, "you shouldn't just barge in! At least knock!"

"Settle down, Black Leg," Chas said, holding up her hands.

"What's going on in here?" Zoro asked, looking to both Sanji and Chas.

"Why do you want to know?" Sanji asked, which made him receive a glare in reply. But instead of bothering Chas with the noise of starting an argument, he looked away an answered the swordsman's question honestly. "She got a charley-horse in her foot, so I was helping."

Chas smiled lightly, still not fully herself from being sick. "Black Leg was just tellin' me a funny story about everyone back when ya all first met." Chas chuckled. "I guess we kind of lost track of time." Pretty soon, Chas began coughing uncontrollably.

Zoro, having been the only one on his feet, reached the glass of water by the bedside before Sanji could and helped Chas take a drink of it.

"You should get some more rest, Chas-san," Sanji said, smiling to the girl. Chas nodded in reply and watched the two men leave the room, letting her get back to resting so she could get better soon.

"I thought you said you were just bringing her lunch," Zoro said after the door was shut.

Sanji snarled at Zoro. "You got a problem with me spending time with her?"

Zoro glared at Sanji and Sanji shot an equal glare right back at him. The two soon parted, having nothing else to say to each other. But they both knew that having feelings for the same girl was going to pose a problem soon.

* * *

**Happy 100 reviews! Thanks a lot guys! Keep checking tumblr for exciting bonus chapters and other things!**


	66. Chapter 66

Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up after hearing a door suddenly slam open. They were all a bit surprised to see Chopper had come out of the woman's room looking flustered.

"CHAS IS GONE!" Chopper cried, running up to Robin and hugging her.

"WHAT?!" Luffy, Brook, Nami, pretty much everyone, shouted.

"Where could she have gone?" Usopp questioned, looking to Luffy.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom," Luffy shrugged.

"All in all she shouldn't be up and walking around!" Nami shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "We should split up and look for her!"

"Right!" everyone chimed, running off into their own directions to look for the redhead.

Little did anyone know that Rui knew where Chas was, but when he tried showing them where she was none of them would listen. So, Rui just stayed on deck, waiting for the other to realize that they wouldn't be able to find her.

* * *

"Teaspoon!" Luffy called from the Forehead and Helm, but there was no answer.

"Oi, Ikasu!" Franky shouted as he searched his weapon development room and the dock system rooms. But there was no sign of Chas having been in any of them, let alone still being there.

"Chas?" Usopp questioned, peeking into a crate that was in the storehouse, but there was no sign of her in the box. So, he went to the next, and the next, and the next after that. But Chas hadn't curled up in a box somewhere in the storehouse, nor was she in his main factory.

"Chas-san?" Brook sang, putting his face up the glass of the fish tank. The only thing in there were fish, that all stared at him curiously. "I don't see her here… Then again, I don't really have eyes." Brook then laughed joyously as he left the aquarium room to search more places.

"Where could she have run off to?" Nami pondered, having just checked the observation room and had moved onto the bathhouse. Both were empty and neither showed a sign of Chas being there.

"Chas?" Chopper cried, search the men's rooms and his medical room. The medical room was empty of the redhead, and Chopper didn't really understand why he needed to search their rooms because it was doubtful Chas would even go into the men's rooms in the first place.

"Chas-san!" Sanji shouted, finishing up his search in of the fridge and pantry. It was possible Chas could have gotten herself locked in there, but Sanji didn't want to believe that was the case and it seemed it wasn't. So, the next place he searched was where Robin's flowers and Nami's tangerine trees were, but there was still no luck there.

"Oi, Dango!" Zoro called, giving out another sigh when there was no sign on her in the crow's nest and gym. He couldn't understand how she could just disappear on the ship, but then again he wasn't surprised.

"Hm…" Robin hummed, looking under one of the beds in the girl's room. There was still no sign of Chas in there, which made the older woman grow a bit concerned.

"She's nowhere!" Usopp shouted, putting his hands to his head when they all met back on deck.

"Is it possible she fell overboard?" Brook questioned.

Everyone froze.

"W-Well…" Chopper began, his face paling just like the others. "She is a bit wobbly…"

That made Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, Brook, and Sanji panic about her actually falling overboard. The others, on the other hand, didn't believe that Chas would have been that stupid to fall overboard. Then again, she was quite delusional.

"What's goin' on?"

Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Brook looked back over his shoulder. "Teaspoon fell over board and we don't know what to do!" The four then looked away, only to freeze what they were doing and do a double take on the person who asked the question. "TEASPOON!"

Indeed, Chas was on deck with everyone.

"CHAS-SAN!" Sanji chimed, running to hug her, only stop dead in his tracks when Chas sneezed on him (right in the face too)

"Oh…" Chas gasped, flinching a bit, "I'm sorry, Black Leg."

"It's all right, Chas-san," Sanji said, wiping his face with his handkerchief. "I'm just glad to see you're all right."

"Where the hell did you run off to anyway?" Zoro questioned, feeling a bit relieved to see she was all right, but not all that relieved to see she was still sick.

Chas held up the glass she had in her hands that was filled with a white, brown, pink, and green ice cream along with a long orange spoon. "I went to fetch myself some ice cream." Chas then pointed to the tree with the swing. "Then I sat up in the tree until I heard all the shoutin'."

"But, Chas," Chopper said, crossing his arms, "I thought I told you to stay in bed."

Chas frowned, hiding behind her glass (this almost made Sanji kill over because of how adorable she was). "I-I'm sorry…" Chas looked at Chopper. "I was just so bored bein' in there that I needed to get out."

"What are you, five?" Zoro questioned, crossing his arms. Chas turned to look at him, her lower lip sticking out as a scowl/pout read over her face. This made Zoro's face immediately turn red and his heart jump loudly.

"Shut up, Mochi…" Chas fussed.

"At least nothing happened to you, Chas," Nami said, smiling.

"We were afraid you fell overboard," Usopp said, smiling also.

"Or collapsed somewhere," Robin suggested, making everyone realize there were many possible outcomes to her disappearing.

"Anyway," Chopper said, looking back up to Chas, "it's time to change your bandages, Chas."

Chas shook her head fiercely.

"Chas, you need to in order to get better!" Usopp said.

Chas just continued shaking her head like a small child refusing to go to the doctors. "I'm not doin' it!"

"Quit being such a kid about it," Zoro snapped.

Chas just continued to shake her head and pouted, tears coming to the corners of her eyes.

"Something wrong, Chas?" Nami asked. "You never objected to it before."

Chas bit on her spoon from her glass, looking towards the ground. "It hurts…"

Everyone's jaw dropped at Chas's words. 'It hurt'? That was it? They expected some other crazy reason coming from the woman that seemed invincible. But no. They got the most childish answer she could possible give.

"Chas, we need to change them or you're not going to get any better," Chopper said. Chas just shook her head more.

"Just stop this nonsense already," Zoro said, about to sling Chas over his shoulder and _drag _her back to her room. "Just listen to what Chopper tells you!"

"No!" Chas shouted at Zoro, tipping her glass of ice cream onto Zoro's head and running away when he glared at her. She ran over to Sanji, clinging him and crying. "Mochi's scaring me!"

"Did she drink vodka again?" Usopp asked, looking to Luffy who shrugged.

"Teaspoon should get sick more often!" Luffy said, grinning, only to get slapped by Nami.

"She's acting like a stubborn four year old!" Zoro said, wiping away the ice cream that was dripping down his forehead. He looked to Chopper. "What exactly have you given her?"

"Just the usual pain killers," Chopper said, shrugging.

"I refuse to get my bandages changed!" Chas cried, still clinging onto Sanji. "That antibiotic stuff hurts!"

"That means it's doing its job, Chas-san," Sanji said, which made Chas pull away. Sanji smiled down at her, putting a hand behind her back. "Would you feel better if I'm there with you?"

Chas nodded, which infuriated Zoro from the sidelines. He couldn't understand how the two got so close all of a sudden. But if this continued, he would lose his chance of winning Chas over.

Sanji led Chas back to the girl's room with Chopper by her side. He looked back over his shoulder and looked to Zoro, sticking out his tongue confidently.

Zoro's eye twitched and the glass he had finally gotten off of his head had shattered in his hand.

"Oh my," Robin said, giggling. She had a feeling things were going to get more interesting from here on out.


	67. Chapter 67

"Done!" Usopp cheered, jumping to his feet suddenly.

"With what?" Chas asked, taking a drink from her mug. "Ya mean that invention yer workin' on?"

"Yep!" Usopp said, placing his hands on his hips and laughing loudly.

"What is it this time?" Sanji questioned from the kitchen.

Usopp motioned to the contraption on the dining table. "I call it 'the Slicer'!"

"Real original…" Chas sniffed.

Usopp glared at Chas. "You know, you're really mean when you don't take your pain meds."

Chas simply stuck out her tongue in reply to his comment. "I refuse to take them. I'm not goin' to go through the same thing I went through yesterday."

"Can we just hear the explanation on this stupid thing?" Sanji asked, walking out from the kitchen to get a better view of Usopp's invention.

"All right," Usopp said, a bit too cheerfully. He pointed to the square, pointy, machine once again. "The whole point of this machine is so you don't have to peel anything ever again." Usopp pointed to the square on top. "You put fruit in here and it comes peeled out here." He pointed to the round circle at the end of a long tube.

"Does it work?" Chas and Sanji asked, both crossing their arms. They received a shrug in reply.

"Let's test it!" Usopp said, running off to grab the bowl of fruit on the counter.

"Wait a minute!" Sanji shouted, stopping Usopp before he could even put in the first fruit. "I'm not having you make a mess of my kitchen! I just cleaned this place this morning!"

"Aw…" Chas and Usopp whined, hanging their heads as Sanji walked back over to the stove to finish the stew he was making for Chas.

Of course, even with Sanji's objection, the two still wanted to try out the contraption. So, they did it secretly, placing a fruit into the square hole and flipping the switch. Sadly, the contraption burnt out, or seemed to have burnt out. Just as the two were finally getting it to work, the door to the kitchen opened.

"Oi, curlybrows, can I get some-" Zoro was cut off right after opening the door all the way. The reason he stopped speaking was because a peeled banana had hit him in the face.

"It worked!" Usopp and Chas cheered, only to get an annoyed glare from Zoro as the banana ran down his face. "Oh…sorry…"

Zoro took the towel from around his neck and wiped off the banana and cursed under his breath, but didn't do anything to either Chas or Usopp. Sure, they deserved it, but he wasn't in the mood to really hurt either of them.

"What is you need, Marimo?" Sanji asked, coming out from the kitchen, not noticing the banana incident.

"Ice…" Zoro replied, marching over to the table and sitting down. When Sanji was gone, Zoro took his chance to kick Chas from under the table.

"What the hell?!" Chas shouted, turning her head to the swordsman just as Sanji returned with a bag of ice.

"Pay back," Zoro replied, taking the bag from Sanji and placing it on his wrist.

"What happened?" Sanji asked, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side.

"I turned it the wrong way when practicing and ended up spraining it," Zoro answered with a small click of his tongue. "No big deal."

"That doesn't sound like you, Zoro," Usopp said, sitting on the table.

"Get off the table!" Sanji shouted, making Usopp quickly sit in a chair.

"Yeah…" Zoro sighed. "Guess I wasn't thinking properly."

Chas frowned, beginning to think to herself. She felt bad, even if it wasn't her fault he was hurt (little did she know it was). Something inside her made her worry, but she couldn't understand what that feeling was.

Chas suddenly got up from her chair and limped lightly over to the infirmary where she opened the door and walked in. This raised questions in the three male's heads, but they soon shrugged it off when she came back out a minute later holding something in her hand. She then retook her seat, holding out her hand to Zoro.

"Give me yer wrist," Chas demanded.

Zoro scowled. "Why?"

"I wanna help," Chas scoffed, motioning towards his hand. "Now, hand it over."

"No," Zoro growled. "I don't want-" Zoro was cut off when Chas suddenly grabbed his wrist rather harshly.

"Quit pretending yer some god," Chas said, beginning to wrap Zoro's wrist and hand. "Yer only human like the rest of us…"

Zoro was silent for a moment, watching the girl dress his wrist and feeling her fingers brush lightly against his skin. He soon broke out of his thoughts and spoke up. "That's really rich coming from a Devil Fruit user."

Chas paused for a moment and raised her eyes to glare at Zoro. "Funny…" She then looked back to his wrist and finished dressing it, but even if it was finished, she didn't let go.

Chas looked at Zoro's wrist for a moment, just now noticing how large his hands were and how callused they were. _I guess these are the hands of a swordsman…_ Chas thought, running her fingers over his hand and letting the tips of her fingers rest on his. For some reason, looking at his hands reminded her of someone else's hands: Her fathers. Just like she felt calm when her father patted her head, or held her hand when she was younger (from what she could remember), Zoro's hand gave her a similar feeling.

"Can you let go now?

Chas looked up raising her eyebrows at Zoro. "W-What?" She then looked down and after realizing what she was doing, let go of Zoro's hand so he could have it back.

Zoro's face flushed a bright red, similar to Chas's face at the moment. His heart was pounding loudly, just like every other time she suddenly touched him. On top of that, he didn't really want her to let go, liking the soft touch of her hand on his.

The two boys who Chas and Zoro had completely forgotten were there, just stood there watching the transaction before them. Both Usopp and Sanji were surprised. The only difference in the surprised both felt was that Sanji felt upset and jealous about the bond. He didn't want the green haired swordsman to take his princess away, then again he always had Nami and Robin. But, he felt like he had a special connection with Chas, even if he knew she had feelings for the idiot in front of her.

Usopp on the other hand was routing for the two all the way, just like Robin, Franky, and Brook were doing. In fact, mostly everyone noticed that one of them (maybe both) had feelings for the other, but just failed to mention it. So, Usopp was on the other's side in trying to get the two together, even if it was going to pose a hassle in doing so.

"I'M DONE!" Chopper's voice suddenly interrupted, the door to the infirmary flying open.

"Done with what?" everyone in the dining room asked. Chopper's smile answered everyone's questions: he had finished the new antibiotic cream for Chas's leg. In knowing this, everyone had to smile, knowing the girl was finally going to get better and not be sneezing on everyone anymore.


	68. Chapter 68

It was November 15th and the Straw Hats were at port once again. This time they were on an island called 'Bardwell'. They didn't know much about the island, only that the journal was pointing to it. All in all, the group decided to split up and explore, each Straw Hat going their separate ways while one watched the ship. This was the reason Chas was walking down the street, by herself, looking for something she desperately needed: a present.

"How the hell am I supposed to find a gift for someone who wants nothin' but to become the world's greatest swordsman?" Chas mumbled to herself, looking side to side at all the shops she passed by. Just a few days, Chas learned that she had missed Zoro's birthday, which shocked mostly everyone. Of course, Zoro could have cared less and had completely forgotten himself, but Nami and Robin demanded that Chas find something for him at port; thus what she was doing now.

"_Well," _the armor said, _"you could always give him a map… God knows he needs to learn directions."_

Cha laughed. "That wouldn't be such a bad idea… But it's not like he'll actually use it."

"_Oh, I highly doubt that. It's possible if you gave it to him he'd use it."_

"Quit talkin'," Chas mumbled, starting to get annoyed with the armor's suggestions (even if they were true). "All yer talkin' is pissin' me off…"

"_Of course it is…" _the armor sighed. _"Why don't you try that shop, hm?"_

Chas stopped walking and turned her head towards the weapon shop. She scoffed. "What, think he needs another sword? He already has three."

"_Weapon shops carry much more than swords, Chasaji," _the armor replied. _"And in case you have forgotten, we're on this island to find the piece the journal was leading us to."_

"Yeah, yeah…" Chas sighed, walking into the shop. She looked around at all the weapons against the wall. Axes, guns, swords, bows and arrows, everything that you could think of, but none of it Chas was actually looking for.

"Hello!" an old man behind the counter chimed, smiling as he jumped up and sat on his chair. "It's not every day I have a woman in here. What can I help ya with?"

Chas walked over to the wall, picking up one of the rifles and looking at it. "I'm just looking around…"

"Oh…" the old man hummed. "Are you looking for anything particular? A sword? Bombs? Guns?"

Chas laughed. "Na, got plenty of those." She put the rifle back on the shelf and continued to walk around. "I'm looking for a gift, for a swordsman, actually. Ya see, I missed someone's birthday a few days ago and…"

"Oh!" the old man clapped. "Perfect!" The old man jumped off of his chair and ran into the back before remerging with a sword. "Then perhaps this would work!"

Chas looked at the sword for a moment and shook her head. "Na, he has enough swords."

"One can never have too many swords," the old man laughed.

Chas scoffed. "I think three is all he can handle. Unless he learns a fourth swords style…but I'm not quite sure how that would work…"

"Three?" the old man question. "Well, that is quite peculiar." The old man crossed his arms for a moment before snapping his fingers and running over to the cabinet. He opened it up and pulled out a box. "Perhaps one of these would suit him." The old man then set the box on the counter and sat back in his chair before sifting through the box with Chas in front of him. "I have polish, sharpening stones…" The old man continued to talk as he tossed things out of the box.

Chas bit her lip, watching the old man continue to sort through the box. At some point, Chas found herself looking around once again, only to have her eyes and curiosity land on a bag under the counter. It looked oddly familiar to her, and she had an idea where she had seen it before, but she wasn't positive.

"_Perhaps you should ask about that…" _the armor spoke up.

Chas looked back to the old man. "Hey, Gramps, what is that?" Chas pointed to the bag.

The old man looked to the bag. "Ah…you have a good eye." The old man shoved the box he was looking through aside, shocking Chas by how he was treating such fragile things, and went to grab the bag, setting it on the counter. "Some man came in just the other day and sold this to me."

"Really?"

The old man nodded. "The guy said he was from the West Blue and was sailing with some pirate group." The old man shrugged. "After that I didn't question him anymore." The old man opened the bag and pulled out a small blue orb, the size of a marble. "I was surprised someone would just up and sell these things." The old man looked back into the bag. "There has to at least be fifty in here…"

Chas crossed her arms and bit her lip. "How much?"

The old man looked at Chas, and then back to the marble bag. "Tell ya what, for such a pretty girl, I'll cut ya a deal: 400,000."

"What?!" Chas shouted. "That's not even a deal!"

The old man crossed his arms. "Really? Fine: 450,000!"

"That's worse than before!"

"All right! 250,000! That's as low as I'm going!"

Chas sighed, until the armor spoke up in her head. _"Perhaps you could cut in another item as compensation?"_

Chas grinned. "Fine, 250,000, but"-the old man lifted an eyebrow-"ya have to give me the blade along with whatever was in that box too."

The old man's mouth dropped. "What?! No way!"

"Fine…" Chas sighed, turning her back to the old man. "I'll be leaving."

The old man grumbled to himself before shouting for Chas to stop. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder, smirking. "Fine, you win." After that, Chas paid the money and left with her new material, smiling to herself.

* * *

_Next Day:_

"Oi, Usopp!" Zoro shouted, making the young man accidentally hit his hand with his hammer. "Have you seen Dango anywhere?"

Usopp looked back over his shoulder. "Yeah, she's down below in my workshop." Zoro began walking away. "But, wait a minute, Zoro!" Zoro stopped and looked back to Usopp. "She said she doesn't want to be bothered."

"But she has been done there for some time," Nami said, walking by with her arms crossed. "Perhaps it's best if someone went down to check on her."

"I guess I'll go check on her…" Zoro mumbled, walking away.

Usopp jumped to his feet and ran over to Nami. "Nami, you know what Chas is doing down there, if he-"

"Don't worry!" Nami said, waving her hand. "Everything'll be fine." Nami then whistled as she walked away, tapping the journal against her shoulder happily.

* * *

"You down here, Manju?" Zoro questioned walking down the stairs to Usopp's factory. Is was quiet and dark in the room, the only light seeming to come from the desk in the corner. "I needed to know where you-" Zoro cut off when he saw Chas asleep at the desk with Rui next to her, a pair pliers still in her hand and Usopp's handy magnifying goggles on her head.

Zoro walked over to the desk to see what she had been working on. On the desk was a bag full of marbles of all different colors, a box filled with metal wires, and a sword resting near the top. Of course, Zoro's curiosity went to the sword. He picked it up, looking over the outside, and then pulled it out of the sheath.

Zoro scoffed. "Where the hell did she get this piece of junk?" Zoro could only put the sword back in its sheath and put it back on the desk. After that, he was startled by Chas stirring a bit in her sleep, but she didn't wake up. This did draw Zoro's attention to what she had in her hand.

Before Zoro could even grab it, Rui had woken up and grabbed it before him. The bird stared at Zoro blankly, having the strings with marbles attached, hanging from his mouth. Rui soon walked across the desk and placed the marbles in Zoro's hand, then nudged against his hand gently.

"You saying I can have these?" Zoro questioned.

Rui nodded before flying over to his cage and curling up in his little house Usopp had finished making days ago.

Zoro shook his head and looked to what he was given. To him it looked like a charm, but he wasn't sure what kind of charm is was exactly. Two marbles, green and red, were held with metal wire at both ends of one long string.

"What am I supposed to do with this…?" Zoro pondered out loud. He then looked down to his Wado Ichimonji and back to the charm in his hand.

* * *

"Where's Chas?" Nami asked when she saw Zoro walking across deck. "I figured she would be with you."

"She fell asleep at the desk," Zoro answered, beginning to walk off. "I carried her back to her room, so she's resting there now."

"O-Okay…" Nami said, looking back over her shoulder. The woman was soon seen with a smile when she noticed what was tied around Zoro's Wado Ichimonji. After that, Nami walked away, humming cheerfully to herself as she went to go talk to Robin about the progress that had been made.


	69. Chapter 69

"Where's Chas-san this morning?" Sanji asked, bringing another plate of meat to the table for Luffy. He had noticed that the red head hadn't joined them in the dining room, let alone even pop in for a moment.

"She said she was heading out early," Chopper said, looking to Sanji.

"Said something about meeting someone or something," Franky said with his face stuffed with food.

"She was acting kind of strange too," Usopp said, taking another bite of his apple.

"Teaspoon didn't seem that strange to me," Luffy replied with his mouth full. "But the sword she was carrying was kind of weird."

"She said she got a deal on it," Robin said, smiling. "The old man of the weapons shop down the street gave it to her."

"The sword's a piece of junk," Zoro said. "The thing's nicked and dull, it wouldn't even hurt anyone." Zoro took another bite of his bread. "No wonder the old man gave her a deal."

"What does she need a sword for anyway?" Nami asked. "She's a devil fruit user, she doesn't need a sword."

Everyone simply shrugged, not a hundred percent sure why Chas was holding the sword so dear to her.

* * *

"_Are you sure you know where you've going?" _the armor questioned.

"Yeah…" Chas said, looking around. "There's only one place he would be if not at port."

"_And don't you think you should have explained yourself a bit better to Strawhat Luffy and the others?" _the armor, once again, questioned. _"They're bound to figure out what you're up to."_

"I told them the truth than they would have wanted to come along," Chas said, stopping in front of a bar called the Yellow Fin. "Plus, this is something I feel I need to do by myself…"

Chas opened the doors to the bar and looked around. When she laid eyes on a familiar head at the bar, she walked over and took a seat next to him.

"Sherry," Chas said to the bar tender, making the man next to her lift his head a bit. Chas sighed. "Ya know, you've seen better days, Coster."

The man next to Chas chuckled, messing up his blonde hair. "Well, you're not such a pretty sight yerself, Cap." The man turned his head, his green eyes and stubble face turning towards her. "It's good to see you though, Captain. I thought for sure I wasn't goin' to find ya."

Chas didn't reply. She did, however, snatch the Sherry bottle from the bar tender and snarl at him, making him run off towards someone else.

"Where have ya been?" the man, named Coster, asked.

"Around," Chas answered, taking a drink from her bottle. "I managed to run into Marco and Atif before coming here and finding ya."

"How _did _ya find me?" Coster said. "I'm sure I didn't let them know where I was."

Chas reached into her pocket and pulled out the bag she got yesterday. She then threw it on the table. "_That's _how."

Coster sighed. "I knew it was a bad idea to sell those…"

"That doesn't answer the question of _why _ya sold them," Chas said, leaning against the bar counter and looking at Coster. "Weren't these important?"

"They lost their importance when we lost our friends," Coster said, his eyes narrowing. He soon looked away, sighing. "Plus, I needed the money after running into some trouble."

Chas stood to her feet. "I don't want any part of yer trouble, Coster." Chas laid her money on the counter and began walking. "I simply came because I needed to say goodbye before I left with Strawhat again."

"Wait!" Coster said, grabbing Chas by her wrist. She turned around and looked at him. "Please, help me. Consider it a final request from yer chef."

* * *

It was late at night, and Zoro was just heading to bed from playing poker with Brook, Franky, Sanji, and Usopp in the dining room. Of course, the winner was he, but he could have cared less about it.

Just as Zoro was heading down the stairs and about to cross the deck, he was suddenly grabbed by his arm and pulled to the side.

"What the-"

Zoro's mouth was soon covered by Chas. "Shush! I don't want anyone hearin'!"

Zoro pried Chas's hand off of his mouth and glared at her. "Where the hell have ya been all day?"

"I'll explain that later," Chas said. "As of right now, yer the only one I can trust and I really hate to say this but"-Chas went silent for a moment, her cheeks reddened (which made Zoro's cheeks flush a bit) and she fiddled in her spot before speaking again-"I need yer help."

"What's going on here?"

Chas and Zoro jumped and turned their heads to see Sanji looking right at them both, crossing his arms.

"Oh thank goodness it's just you…" Chas sighed.

"Chas-san, when did you get back?" Sanji asked.

"Just now," Zoro answered for her.

"I didn't ask you," Sanji snapped at Zoro, partially because he was ticked at seeing him alone with Chas.

Chas sighed when the two began arguing. Soon she couldn't stand it any longer and snapped. "Will ya both just stop?!" Both men went silent and stared at the red head, shocked. "I need both of ya to help me!"

The two men could only raise an eyebrow and look at each other, completely confused about what Chas was asking of them.


	70. Chapter 70

**This story is taking a lot longer than I anticipated. All in all, I hope this chapter isn't TOO confusing.**

* * *

"This isn't going to work," Zoro said, crossing his arms. "There's no way they'll fall for this."

"Chas-san," Sanji said, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "putting into consideration what we're breaking into, I have to agree with Marimo on this one."

"Don't doubt it until ya try it," Chas said, taking a deep breath, continuing to walk forward.

At the moment, the three were making their way towards the front gates of a mansion that was known to be holding a famous, and scary, gang boss inside. Coster had asked Chas to pose as a rival mob that has come to make a truce with this group. After getting in, they were supposed to steal back what had been taken from Coster's possession. Of course, he never said exactly what had been taken from him, but simply said they would know when they see it.

"Hold it!" the man at the gate said, stopping the three in their tracks. "What are you three doing here?"

Chas looked back over her shoulder to the other two men behind her, the two looked to each other and gave a light shrug, not really knowing what they were supposed to say. Chas sighed and looked back towards the guard. "We're here to see yer boss."

"Why?" the guards questioned.

Chas cocked a hip, placing her hand on it. "Are ya really goin' to waste my time with askin' why we're here and what not? Yer boss asked to meet with us, the Red Hornets, and we're here. Now"-Chas grabbed the guard by the collar, scarring him with her cold glare-"quit wastin' my time and let us in…"

"R-R-Right," the guards stuttered. He was released from Chas's grip and he quickly stepped back away from her. "I should have recognized you three were from the Red Hornets." The guard motioned to the clothes the three were wearing: black leather jackets, red shirts, dark pants and boots, and sunglasses. "The Boss told me you were going to be coming." The guards stepped aside, just as the gate began opening. "He's should be waiting in his office."

"Right," Chas said, walking past the guard with Zoro and Sanji following behind. They were just about to get past the gate when the guard suddenly stopped them.

"Wait a minute!"

The three froze, all beginning to think that they've been found out. They went through all the trouble of knocking out the real Red Hornets and steal their clothes _only _to get figured out when they get to the gate? Hopefully not.

The three turned around.

"I forgot to mention," the guard said. "No weapons are allowed inside." The guard pointed to Zoro's swords. "You're going to have to leave those here."

Zoro snarled. "There's no way in hell I'm-" Sanji covered his mouth quickly before Zoro could make the situation any worse.

Chas grabbed Zoro's swords and gave them to the guard. "Better?"

"And yours, Ma'am."

Chas pulled out the sword from her side and unsheathed it. "Are ya sure? This thing is old and is so dull it can hardly hurt a fly." Chas smiled, flirtatiously, at the guard. "Is there _any way _ya can make an exception?"

The guard's face went red. "I-I-I guess it w-w-would be a-a-all right."

"Great," Chas chimed, sheathing her blade and putting it back at her side. After that, she dragged Zoro and Sanji behind her as she made her way to the mob boss's office.

"I can't believe my swords got taken…" Zoro mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets angrily as the three of them walked down the hall.

"We'll get them back," Sanji said, "so quit getting upset about it and deal with it."

Zoro scoffed, before his attention was suddenly grabbed when something was thrown at him. He luckily grabbed it before it hit him right in the face, but when he saw what it was, his mood got worse.

"Take that for the time bein'," Chas chuckled.

"I'm not taking this piece of junk," Zoro grumbled. "This wouldn't hurt anyone."

Chas laughed. "With yer strength? Oh, it'll hurt someone." Chas looked back in front of her. "Just keep it for now. It's better than nothin', right?"

Zoro rolled his eyes and put the sword at his side, not giving any more complaints as to how worthless the sword is (even if they were true).

"Ah, there is the woman I've been waiting for!"

The three looked up and down the hall to see a large, and circular looking, man walking towards them. He wore a black suit with a blue shirt that was unbuttoned to show his chest hair (which was very little and mostly showing his blubber). The three guessed that this was the man they needed to see: the mob boss.

"I was beginning to wonder if you got lost," the man laughed. "I do hope there were no issues." The mob boss eyed Chas from head to foot. "You look a bit different. Have you done anything different with yourself?"

Chas's smile faltered a bit. "M-Maybe just a bit. But that's not what we're here for."

The mob boss chuckled. "Right, right, straight to the point like usual, aren't you?" The mob boss put his arm around Chas, leading her down the hall with Sanji and Zoro following behind. "Right this way and we'll get right to business."

Sanji and Zoro looked to the mob boss's arm and were very close to snapping when they noticed how low his hand was going. At this point, it wasn't even on her back. To make things worse, Chas wasn't doing anything about it, whether that was because she was trying to keep up a front or not was unknown to them. Either way, it ticked them off.

The mob boss opened the door to his office and aloud Chas to go in before him, only for her to freeze at the sight of what was on his desk.

"I-I-Is t-t-that a…" Chas shakily said, pointing.

The mob boss laughed. "Ah, yes, that is a tiger! One of the very few you can find." The mob boss put his hand in his pockets. "I ended up finding him on the street one day after his owner abandoned him and decided to bring him here." The mob boss shrugged. "Anyway, let's get to business."

Chas, Zoro, and Sanji, at this point, had completely zoned out at seeing the yellow, black, and white stripped tiger kitten growling in its cage on the desk. _Is that what we're supposed to be stealing back?! _they all thought.

_Coster has always loved animals… _Chas thought, taking her seat on the couch in the office with Sanji and Zoro standing behind her.

"_But wouldn't stealing a tiger from a mafia boss pose as a hassle?" _the armor questioned. _"If I were you, I would forget about the whole thing and get back to-"_

_Just shut up already… _Chas said right back, finally getting her attention back on the boss that had sat next to her.

"Now," the boss said, taking a drink from his wine glass, "on the subject of territory. I assume you are all right with the agreement that the Red Hornets will be able to control their half of the city, and I'll be able to control my half, correct?"

Chas could only answer yes, her focus slowly going towards the two men that were glaring behind her, most likely because of the friendly arm the boss was putting around her shoulders.

"And it is agreed that the Red Hornets will be carrying the cargo to Osea?"

Chas snapped out of her thoughts and looked towards the mafia boss. "Cargo?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Yes, the cargo. The Elbow Piece of Matej Torok's armor, remember? I've discussed this with you before. You're group is supposed to transport if to Osea and receive the payment from Hangman Lang. Then you're to come back here"

The three Straw Hats' eyes widened. The last time they heard that name was way back when Nami had them participate in that singing competition. Since then, they hadn't expect to hear it.

"_About time…" _the armor sighed. _"I knew I was feeling something from around this place that was familiar. Now I understand why."_

Before Chas could answer the armor, there was a knock on the door, interrupting.

"What is it?" the mafia boss called.

The door opened to reveal a man dressed in a black suit. "Sir, you're need downstairs."

The mafia boss sighed and stood to his feet. "Fine…" He looked to Chas. "I'll be back shortly to discuss the rest of the plan. Excuse me." The mafia boss than left, shutting the door behind him.

"I was hoping to never hear that man's name again," Sanji snarled. "Damn… Now what?"

"We get what we came for," Zoro said, crossing his arms.

"He's right," Chas said, standing to her feet. "We need to get what we came for and leave before that idiot figures anythin' out."

"_I do hope you don't think of leaving before you recover that piece of me," _the armor spoke.

_Wouldn't even think about that… _Chas thought. _There's no way I'm letting Lang get his hands on it._

The armor sighed. _"And I thought you were going to help me so I don't kill you, I suppose I was wrong."_

Chas turned her head to look at Zoro and Sanji. "After we get that tiger, we need to find that armor piece. There's no way we can let that thing get shipped to Osea so Lang can get his hands on it."

"Why do we need to worry about him getting a hold of it?" Zoro questioned, narrowing his eye at Chas. "I thought he was after the journal, not-"

Chas sighed, rubbing her head. "Yer really slow, aren't ya?" Chas looked at Zoro squarely. "The journal is leadin' us to pieces of the armor, Dumbo. That's what it's been doin' from the first page." Chas walked over to the desk, forgetting about the two gentlemen that were stuck staring blankly. "That's why Lang wanted the journal, so he could find the rest of the armor and do whatever he wanted with it." Chas picked up the cage of the tiger and looked back over her shoulder. "Get it?"

"It would explain a few questions that I've had…" Sanji said, putting his hand to his chin.

"That still doesn't explain what-" Zoro cut off when Chas shoved the tiger cage at him, having the animal growly at the swordsman and try scratching him.

"I'll explain more later," Chas said, crossing her arms. "As of right now, we need to get out of here."


	71. Chapter 71

"I didn't expect us to get figured out that fast!" Chas cried, running down the hall with Sanji and Zoro following behind. The three of them were, at the moment, getting chased by the mafia boss and his men, having gotten found out right when they left the office.

"I told you this plan wasn't going to work!" Zoro shouted, holding the tiger cage close as he ran.

"Just shut up and continue running!" Sanji shouted as they turned a corner, but he stopped running when he noticed Chas had went the other way. "Chas-san, where are you going?!"

"I told ya!" Chas said, jogging backwards. "I'm not leavin' without that armor piece!" Chas waved and turned her back towards Zoro and Sanji. "I'll meet you both at the Sunny!" Chas than disappeared down the hall, leaving Sanji and Zoro by themselves with the running mafia close behind.

* * *

"Ya have any idea where this 'piece of ya' is?" Chas asked, running down the stairs.

"_I would picture it'd be in the lowest part of this manor," _the armor said. _"But I'm not entirely sure."_

"How aren't ya sure?!" Chas shouted, glaring at the armor as she ran. "Yer a complete piece of shit!"

"_Please don't swear…" _the armor sighed. _"And make sure to take a left once you past that-"_

Chas jumped the ten steps left until she reached the bottom and quickly turned the corner like the armor had asked her too.

"_Athletic are we?"_

"Just shut up and keep tellin' me where to go," Chas grumbled. Sadly, she was soon stopped when three mafia men stopped right in front of her and began chasing her down the halls also. "Why didn't ya tell me they were there?!"

"_You told me to shut up if I remember correctly."_

Chas simply rolled her eyes and continued running. She needed to lose these three, or she would have to draw her weapons on them which she really didn't want to do. So, she turned a corner, then another corner, and continued doing so until she had gone in a full circle and lost the guards. But in losing the guards, she ended up finding something else that gave her some scary ideas.

* * *

Sanji and Zoro had managed to beat up most of the guards and such chasing them. But at this point, the two were completely out of breath and were too tired to keep running any further, let alone move from the spots they were standing.

Just as the two thought they were getting a breath, they were surprised to see Chas running down the hall towards them with a bag slung over her shoulder.

"Chas-san!" Sanji chimed, suddenly getting his energy back. He was going to hug her, but instead she ran right past him, grabbing him and Zoro by the collar and pulling them behind her.

"What the hell did you do?!" Zoro shouted when loud noises of ceilings falling and things breaking were echoing through the now empty halls.

"I might have placed a few explosives around on my way up here from the basement because I figured they would go off after we left?" Chas said, shrugging. "But now's not the time for that!" Another explosion sounded, closer to where the group was, making them just run a bit faster for their lives. "Just keep runnin'!"

The three were inches from the door, just about to make it to their freedom with the stolen tiger, when they were suddenly pushed out the front door and sent face first in the dirt by a shockwave sent from the last explosion by the bombs.

Zoro, Sanji, and Chas all sat up, looking at the building that was set ablaze. They then looked to their clothes and each other's faces: dirty, torn, and bruised. And just like that, the three collapsed back onto the ground, trying to fully comprehend what just happened.

* * *

"Do you have any threes?" Luffy asked, looking up from his cards.

"Go fish…" Usopp sighed yet again.

Luffy drew a card from the pile.

"Do you have any Kings?" Usopp asked.

It was Luffy's turn to sigh as he handed over the two Kings he had in his hand. "Do you have any threes?"

"You just asked that, Luffy," Usopp said, raising an eyebrow.

"So?" Luffy said, looking up.

"So, you should know that I don't have any threes."

"Well, maybe you're just lying about not having any threes."

The two stopped the petty argument when they saw Zoro and Sanji walking across deck in their peripheral vision. They turned their heads, watching the two men slink across deck, exhausted and dirty.

"What happened to you two?" Nami asked, right when she noticed the two walking up the stairs.

"Nothing," they said before disappearing around the corner towards the showers.

Nami could only stand there, knowing something had happened for them to look as ragged as they did. The only question she had was…where was Chas?

* * *

"I do hope this was worth all the trouble, Coster," Chas snarled at the blonde chef, handing over the cage with the tiger.

"MOMO!" Coster chimed, practically crying when the cat ran out of its cage and jumped in his arms. "Captain, I can't thank ya enough."

Chas sighed. "I'm not even goin' to _ask _why I had to do all that for a damn cat…" The tiger hissed at Chas and she snarled right back at it.

"And what happened to the gang?" Coster questioned.

Chas chuckled. "They won't be posing a problem anymore." Chas held up the bag she had gotten from the mansion. "On the bright side, I've got what I came for and will be leaving pretty soon."

"Too bad," Coster laughed. "And here I was hoping that ya would stay." Coster held out his hand. "Anyway, it was good seein' ya again, Cap…"

Chas shook Coster's hand, smirking back at him. "Take care of yerself, Coster." Chas then turned her back to the chef she had known for four years and left without another word, knowing it was unlikely she would ever see the man again.

* * *

_The Next Morning of the Thousand Sunny:_

"Wait a minute!" Nami shouted, slamming her hands on the just cleaned table. "You three broke into the mansion of a mafia boss house?!"

Zoro, Sanji, and Chas all nodded in unison.

"Nice going!" Luffy chimed, snickering. "How'd it go?"

"It went fairly well," Chas said, ignoring Nami who was still yelling about how stupid they were for doing such a thing. "On the bright side, we found what we came for."

"And what was that?" Usopp asked.

Chas pulled out the bag she had snatched from the mansions basement and threw it onto the table, having the armor piece roll out of the bag.

"Another armor piece?" Brook questioned, picking it up and passing it around for the others to look at. "But I thought we had dealt with the armor already."

Robin crossed her arms. "I figured as much." Everyone looked to her. "I had noticed that the name 'Matej Torok' had been written in the journal and after a while of looking through it, my guess was that the journal was leading to where the pieces of the armor had been hidden."

"But if that's the case," Nami said, crossing her arms, "why wasn't there a piece on Reika Shima?"

"Because it had already been taken," Chas answered, not a hundred percent sure that was the case. "Lang most likely knew about it before us and went there to get it."

"Lang?" Franky questioned. "Ya mean that weird ass freak from the singing competition?" Chas nodded.

"So that's why he wanted the journal," Chopper said, looking to Chas, "because he wanted the armor, right?"

"It seems that way," Chas answered. "I remember when we went searching through his ship I found a chest that looked a lot like the armor in his quarters. But before I could get it opened, Vera caught me."

"But why would he want the armor?" Luffy asked, scratching his head. "I thought that whoever wore it would end up getting killed if they're not the chosen one."

"He most likely wants to use it for another purpose," Robin said. "Although, it's hard knowing what the reason is."

"All in all," Chas cut in, "we need to find those armor pieces before Lang does. Who knows what could happen if he manages to get the rest of the pieces."

* * *

**Sorry for the fairly lame chapter. Wasn't quite sure what to write. All in all, I hope we made a bit of progress. Also, there's a new story written by me in case you haven't seen it: "Steel Guard". So if ya want, go check it out. Thanks! See ya next time!**


	72. Chapter 72

"Where's Taiyaki?" Zoro questioned, walking up to Usopp and Luffy. The two were sitting on the raining of the sunny trying to catch some fish for the tank.

"Last I saw her she was with Sanji," Luffy said, looking back over his shoulder.

"Why is she with him?" Zoro questioned out loud, and rather harshly at that.

"He said he needed help in the kitchen and she offered," Usopp said looking back towards the swordsman. "They haven't been seen since."

"On top of that Sanji's not letting anyone in the kitchen," Luffy said, frowning.

This phrase got Zoro thinking about what could be happening behind that closed door. He wanted to find out, even if there was a chance that idiot chef would break his bones (not that it actually mattered). So, Zoro quickly walked over to the door, about to knock when he suddenly heard talking from the other side.

"Ya don't have to go so fast…" Chas said, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Am I going to fast?" Sanji questioned. "I could-"

"No, it's fine," Chas said again. "It's just…it's startin' to hurt…"

Zoro's eyebrows knitted together at the strange conversation.

"Well," Sanji said, "the pain will go away after a while. It's just because you've never done this before."

"I've done this a lot of times!" Chas snapped. "It's just…I don't remember it bein' so…"

Sanji laughed. "Just keep turning, it'll get better."

Zoro's eye twitched at what his imaginations was concocting. Were they doing what he thought they were doing? In the kitchen? No, it had to be his imagination. But what else would all that mean? Did Zoro really lose Chas to that-?

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Zoro shouted, opening the door with a loud bang. That's when he froze, realizing he had gotten the wrong impressions from the conversation. It seems he stressed out for nothing.

Chas stood near the sink, a bowl in her hand along with a whisk that had white cream on it. Sanji, on the other hand, was near the dining table, setting up everything for that night's meal.

"I knew my idiot alarm was goin' off," Chas said, pausing from her mixing for a moment. "What are ya doin'?"

"Yeah," Sanji snarled, "what _are _you doing here, Marimo?"

Zoro glared at Sanji before his face turned bright red. Why was he there? After hearing that conversation he had forgotten everything. He was in too much of a panic to actually put into consideration why he was there.

"Probably for somethin' stupid…" Chas mumbled, turning back to her bowl and beginning to whisk again. "Black Leg, how long do I need to continue doing this?"

"Is the cream smooth?" Sanji asked, setting down plates on the table.

Chas lifted her whisk from the bowl and watched the cream plop back into the bowl. "No…it's still all lumpy."

"Then keep stirring."

Chas grumbled, but did as asked. This was her punishment for asking the chef to let her make dinner and dessert.

Chas was soon surprised when arms came from behind her, grabbing the bowl from her hands and taking it. She titled her head back to see Zoro looking down at her with her head touching his chest lightly. Chas suddenly noticed how her heart had sped up a bit and her face was getting warmer, and she didn't like this feeling at all.

"I'll do it," Zoro said, breaking Chas from her thoughts.

Chas blinked blankly as she watched Zoro move next to her and started stirring the bowl. Although, Chas couldn't help but laugh when she saw the swordsman having some difficult stirring. It wasn't that he wasn't strong enough, it was because he kept stirring too fast which made the cream splash out of the bowl.

"Yer goin' to ruin it if a do that, Mochi," Chas laughed.

"S-Stop laughing!" Zoro snapped, scowling at her with a blush, which just made her laugh even more.

Sanji looked up from his placing of plates and looked to the kitchen. Unknown to his knowledge, a rather bitter smile took place on his face before it faded into a frown. An angry frown.

"Oi, Marimo!" Sanji shouted, storming over to the kitchen. "Quit making a mess in my kitchen!"

"I'm not trying to make a mess!" Zoro shouted right back.

Chas was soon laughing uncontrollably at the argument that had ensued between the two, but her laughing just continued even when Zoro told her to shut up. Little did she knew she was going to pay for it later with an intense sparing session.


	73. Chapter 73

Zoro hadn't moved an inch from his spot. Nope, not an inch. He had been sitting, his head resting on his palm, ever since breakfast had ended and everyone began doing what they usually did in the mornings. But he, on the other hand, continued to watch the strange redhead across deck as she helped Sanji and Nami tend to the plants.

"Something wrong, Zoro?"

Zoro still didn't looked up to Luffy. "No…"

"Really?" Luffy asked, pocking his head in front of Zoro. "Then why do you keep staring at Teaspoon?"

Zoro didn't answer Luffy.

"Are you not feeling well?" Chopper asked, now joining with Brook and Usopp.

"Uh," Usopp said, giving a small smile, "I don't think this is something you can cure, Chopper."

"Why not?" Chopper questioned.

Brook laughed with a wide smile. "Because he's love sick."

Zoro scowled, a blush coating his cheeks. He knew Brook was right, but he didn't want to admit it, he _never _wanted to admit it. But his face told the whole story, there was no reason to explain his feelings to them.

"Oh?" Luffy hummed. "You're face turned red, Zoro."

"Leave me alone!" Zoro snapped, glaring at Luffy, but his face just brightened in color.

"There's no need to be embarrassed about it, Zoro-san," Brook chimed, still laughing. "Have you told Chas-san yet?"

Zoro was silent and the scowl deepened on his forehead.

"YOU HAVEN'T TOLD HER?!" the men shouted, only to cover their mouths soon after with Zoro shot a glare at them. The four looked back over their shoulder to Chas, but she was too busy with Nami to pay any attention to the boys. They were in the clear.

"Why don't you give her a 'pick-up line'?" Luffy suggested.

"Uh, Luffy," Usopp chuckled, "I don't think giving Chas a pick-up line is the answer he's looking for."

"Why not?" Luffy asked, putting his hands behind his head and tilting it to the side. "Nami said women love cheesy pick-up lines."

"Chas seems like the type of girl who would punch anyone who tried telling her one," Chopper said, putting a hoof to his chin.

"Why not try it anyway?" Brook suggested.

"No," Zoro answered, looking unamused by the idea. "There's no way in hell I'm doing that."

"It's just a few simple words, Zoro-san."

"I don't do cheesy, half assed, pick-up lines like that."

"Then let's have a contest," Luffy said smiling. "Whoever can get Teaspoon to blush wins."

"All right," everyone said, nodding. They all shook on it, and so the contest began.

* * *

"Chas-san!" Brook chimed, skipping over to Chas. Chas looked up from her watering of the plants and was soon snatched up by Brook who grabbed her hand, bowing in front of her. "Your beauty makes my heart beat, thought I don't have one." Brook than began laughing loudly like usual.

Chas blinked blankly at Brook, taking her hand back. Let's just say that Brook wasn't able to do much the rest of the day.

* * *

Chas was silently reading on deck, trying to ignoring the armor that was constantly talking in her head. She couldn't believe how much it was talking that day. It just seemed to ramble on and on, unless someone interrupted and tried talking to her.

"Chas!"

Chas looked up and turned her head to the side to see Usopp smiling at her. "I'm looking for treasure, can I search your chest?"

Chas's smile quickly changed into a frown and next thing Usopp knew, he had a book shoved down his mouth along with several bumps on his head.

* * *

Chas sighed, finally finding some piece in the Library. But Chas highly doubted it would last long for her.

"Hey, Teaspoon."

And there it was, Luffy right on time to annoy her like everyone else.

"What is it, Strawhat?" Chas asked, turning her head towards Luffy.

Luffy sat in a chair, grinning widely, and said, "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put stew and pie together!"

"Uh…" Chas raised an eyebrow. "I think ya meant 'U' and 'I' together."

Luffy's face distorted a bit. "Stupid, that doesn't sound tasty at all…" Luffy got up from his seat and left, saying, "No wonder you can't get a boyfriend." Let's just say Luffy was the only one who didn't get beaten so far that day.

* * *

"Hey, Doc!" Chas chimed, walking into the infirmary. "Can I get some pain reliever?"

Chopper spun around in his swivel chair and looked at Chas. "Sure, but why?"

"I've got a headache…" Chas sighed, rubbing her forehead. "It's been botherin' me most of the day now."

"Do you need a check-up?" Chopper questioned.

Chas smiled. "No, not yet."

Chopper smiled brightly, a blush on his cheeks. "Oh, okay. I was hoping to give you a full body check-up!"

Chas stared at Chopper for a moment before hugging the doctor so tight he couldn't breathe. "Yer so adorable, Doc!"

Chopper's face flushed as he smiled. "Don't say such nice things, Asshole!"

* * *

After visiting Chopper, Chas went back to deck, hoping to take a nap in the shade, until she ran into Zoro on his way to the gym. The two stood in front of each other, Zoro eyeing Chas intently, which made the girl feel rather uncomfortable.

"S-Somethin' ya need, Mochi?" Chas questioned, backing up a bit from her sudden racing heart.

Zoro was silent still, staring at her before opening his mouth and saying, "Am I asleep?"

Chas raised an eyebrow, in complete shock with what he said. "U-Uh…what?" Chas crossed her arms. "Have ya been drinkin'?"

"No," Zoro said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Then why are ya askin' me if yer asleep?"

Zoro shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, walking past Chas. "You're just really attractive right now." Zoro stopped walking when his sleeve was suddenly grabbed. He turned around to look at Chas, the one who grabbed him, only to be met with a fist to the face. To make things worse, it was a metal fist to the face.

"Don't just say thin's like that out of the blue!" Chas shouted before bolting off to find a quiet place to steady her racing heart and to cool her red face.

* * *

**It was short, but I hope it was amusing.**


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